Trouble for the Al Bhed
by Cdabryhea
Summary: takes place not long after the end of the perfect ending. it seems that everyone has found someone special, even love. all except rikku, and who is threatining the very existance of the Al Bhed plz. R
1. Default Chapter

Chap1

A/n: this is my first ffx-2 fan fic. I really love the Rikku and Gippal pair, and so I decided to make a fan fic on them. So please read and review and let me know what you think.

(Rikku's pov)

"I'm so board. There's nothing to do. The Gullwings broke up shortly after Tidus returned. Yuna spends all of her time with him, and well even Pain seems to have found someone too, she spends all of her time at Bevelle with Baralai. I'm all alone. Shinra is hanging out with Benzo, and Brother Buddy are always fighting." I thought to myself. "Maybe I'll go see Gippal. I haven't seen him in a while. How did things so wrong between us?"

(Flashback 2yrs ago)

Everything was peaceful. We were sitting at the Oasis watching the sun set. Our feet were in the water. He sat behind me with his arms around my waist and my head resting against his chest.

"Rikku there's something I have to tell you." He says.

"What?" I ask.

"Well you know that I love you right?".

"Yea".

"Well I think it would be best if we broke up for now." He said in a quiet voice.

"Wha- but Gippal why?" I asked feeling tears well up in my eyes.

"Well your leaving tomorrow to go be your cousins guardian, and tomorrow I'm leaving to go try out for the Crimson Squad." He said.

"So! That doesn't mean that we have to break up." I whined.

"Rikku the Crimson Squad is trained to fight Sin. If I make the Squad and get a chance to fight Sin then there's a chance I could die, and who knows what could happen to you while your guarding Yuna."

I was heart broken. The only man I ever truly loved was breaking up with me. My sorrow quickly turned into anger.

"How could you Gippal." I said getting up from his embrace. "How could you! You say you love me, but yet your breaking up with me. I hate you!" I shouted.

I'd rather you hate me and be safe, than worrying about me and get hurt while your guarding Yuna." He said walking away.

I just sat in the sand a cried.

(End Flashback)

I was foolish. I should've never yelled at him. I didn't hate him, I loved him and I still do. But I had to ruin our friendship. I walked out of the cabin and toward the bridge.

"Brother, Buddy can you two please stop fighting long enough and take me to the Djose temple." I shouted over their bickering.

"Rikku, fryd yna, drehgehkt? Oui kyda res. Fro fuimt oui fyhd du ku caa res. ( Rikku, what are you thinking? You hate him. Why would you want to go see him) Brother asked.

"Crid ib brothwr, Ed's huha av ouin picehac." (Shut up brother it's none of your business) I said.

"Well excuse me for caring." He muttered in very bad English.

"You don't care. Your just nosy" I yelled.

"No I'm not" He yelled back.

"You know she's got a point. You are nosy." Buddy interrupted.

That just set them off into another round of arguing.

"You know what since we're over Luca I'll walk from here." I shouted as I got off the ship.

I got off at the entrance to Mi'ihen highroad, and started walking toward Mushroom rock road. I got there without having to fight one fiend. But when I got to Mushroom rock road, I was attacked by Ultima and Omega weapons, and other powerful fiends. I changed into my Machina Maw dress sphere. I took down one Omega weapon with a few Vajra's but it wasn't enough. They all surrounded me and quickly took out Smasher-r and Crusher-l. I tried to revive them but the defeated Machina Maw before I could. Before I passed out I saw a bright flash of light.

a/n: well how did you guys like it. I know it was a short chapter and it kinda sucked but please read and review and way.


	2. chap2

A/n: well here's the second chapter hope you enjoy.

Chap2: rescuer

When I woke up everything came spinning into focus.

"Where am I?" I wondered aloud.

"You're in Djose temple Cid's girl." Came a cocky voice I recognized.

I groaned to myself "Gippal I have a name." (A name you stopped using after we broke up) I thought to myself.

He ignored my comment. "So what brings you here?" He asked instead.

"Well I came to see you." I said slowly.

"What does Cid's girl want with me." He said in the arrogant tone he always uses.

"Damn it Gippal I have a name, use it. I came to apologize. You were right, it was best to break up, back then. I was young, I was acting immature, only caring about my feelings, not even bothering to think about how you might've been feeling. I regret it every day. I don't hate you, I could never hate you. But if you're going to tease me then I'll leave. I deserve it. I don't blame you for teasing me, or even if you hate me. So thank you for your help but I should be leaving." I said as tears welled up in my eyes. I tried to sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed, but a sharp pain in my side made me fall back on the bed.

"Rikku." He said quietly. "I don't hate you and I'm sorry that I tease you, you don't deserve it. And besides you're wounded. You shouldn't try to move for a while." He looked down, then back at me. "Rikku just because we were going separate ways didn't mean that we had to break up. I mean I might not have even made the crimson squad so there might not have been anything to worry about." He said

"Yea but Gippal you did make the squad, and anyway you could've died like everyone else in the trials in the Den of Woe." I replied.

"Hmm I guess"

"So do you forgive me? Can we at least be friends?" I asked. I had managed to sit up so that my back was against the wall. I was totally ignoring Gippal about not moving.

"I forgive you, but not friends." He said. I looked down. "More than friends" He said as he leaned forward and kissed me lightly. He pulled back smiling. I was smiling. "I still love you Rikku.

"So do I Gippal I never stopped." We just sat there for while happy that we were back together and that we didn't hate each other. "So uh I guess you were the one who threw the flashbomb right?" I asked.

"Right" He said.

"So what happened?" I asked.

"Well after that giant machina you were using got destroyed one of the Ultima weapons attacked you while you were falling. That's why your side is bandaged." He said.

"And I'm guessing that you're the one who bandaged me?" I asked with a sly smile.

"'corse I did Cid's girl. I wouldn't let anyone else near you." I glared at him. "Anyway after you were hit I used a flashbomb to distract them. You hit the ground, but as soon as I got to you I picked you up and carried you to the hover, and brought you back here to my room to help. I don't know why, but I wouldn't let any one lese help you.

That's when I noticed that I wasn't wearing my usual clothes. I was wearing a long t-shirt that went past my knees. "Umm where are my clothes?" I asked him.

"After I bandaged you up I had one of my female assistants change you into this so we could get your outfit changed. It's not good to have dirt near a wound. Don't worry I gave you your privacy." He said.

"Thank you" I said.

"You're Welcome. You should really get some rest. Your father's coming tomorrow to do an inspection."

"But why does he have to do and inspection when you're the leader of the Machine Faction.?" I asked confused.

"Because he wanted to and so I let him. Whatever he says won't make a difference. It saves me the trouble of doing it. Plus he still thinks he's the leader of the Al Bhed." He answered.

"That sounds like father alright. At least he'll be happy that I have a boyfriend. He keeps telling me that I have to 'settle down'."

"Hahaha Really he does, does he. Well I'll let you get some rest."

"But where will you be staying?" I asked.

"I'll stay in one of the rooms in the inn." He said.

"Don't... stay with me. Please." I asked.

He smiled at me. "Alright just let me make sure that everything is put away and locked up."

As I lay there I started wondering why there were so many powerful fiends along the Mushroom Rock Road. They were usually very weak. Oh well it's probably nothing. Gippal came in a few minutes later.

"Well everything is locked up." He said as he climbed into bed next to me.

I carefully turned on my left side, the side that wasn't injured, and pressed my back against his chest. He lightly wrapped his arm around the lower part of my stomach making sure to avoid my wound.

"I love you Gippal." I said before I fell asleep.

'I love you to Rikku."

A/N: well how do you like it. Please read and review. O and thanxs to the shadow of sora for telling me that in my other story I seemed to have skipped a chapter.


	3. chap3

A/N: thank you to all who reviewed. It might be a while before I can update again. I have bad sunburn on my arms and shoulders and it hurts to move. But I'll post this chapter. Also school is coming up so I'll be busy but I'll try to update when ever I can. Also if you have any ideas or comments please tell me. I'll listen. Well here's the next chapter.

Chap3

"What the hell is going on here?" Someone shouted as the door banged open.

"Vydran" (father) I shouted as I quickly sat up. Bad move I thought to myself. "Ah oww." I said as I clutched my side.

"Rikku be careful. You just re-opened you wound." Gippal said noticing the blood seeping through the shirt I was wearing. "Damn it Cid look what you did."

"What I did? What the hell did I do?"

"You came barging right in here for no reason, scared the living daylights of Rikku and made her re-open her wound" Gippal shouted.

"Well it's a good thing I came in here breaking up whatever it was you two were doing." He shouted back.

"We weren't doing anything, we were sleeping. You know what that is. It's what people do at night." Gippal said his anger quickly rising.

"Then why were you two in the same bad with your arm around her." Cid asked.

Gippal looked over at me and said "Look Cid I'll explain everything later, but right now Rikku needs help. She's still bleeding." He said as he picked me up bridal style and carried me out of the room with out another word to any one.

"Gippal" I said weakly. I had already lost a quit a bit of blood.

"Don't worry I'll find one of my female assistants." He replied looking every where for one.

"No... Gippal... There isn't time. I'm already getting dizzy." I said in a very soft voice.

"Alright. I'll take you to the inn where there won't be anyone to disturb us."

I slowly nodded my head yes. He ran out the door and to the inn.

"Quick I need a room, and medical supplies, and don't let any one in." Gippal said hurriedly.

"Right, this way." He said noticing my condition as he lead Gippal to the closest room. "The supplies are in the bathroom. I'll get them." He returned in a few seconds "Here you go"

"Thanks, now please don't let anyone come into this room. Ok?' Gippal said to the inn keeper.

"Right" He said as he left.

Gippal sat me on the bed and carefully lifted my shirt over my head. I winced in pain.

"I'm sorry Rikku this is going to hurt"

"I...I don't care" I said.

He took a lot of gauze out of the kit, and applied a lot of pressure on my wound to stop the bleeding. I cried out in pain. It took a few minutes to stop the bleeding but he eventually stopped it. He put gauze over it and covered it with a gauzy type rap and medical tape. Then he gently laid me under the covers.

"I'll be right back ok I'm going to get you something to wear." He said when he was done.

"Gippal thank you, but I feel more comfortable in my own clothes. Can you help me change into my Gun Mage dress sphere? Just hold me steady." I said weakly.

"Sure" He replied as he gently picked me up off the bed and stood me on my feet and held me steady as I used my dress sphere.

"Thanks." I said as he put me back under the covers "Can you um get my father. We should explain what's going on"

"Do we have to?"

"Gippal as much as I hate him sometimes he is still my father and he only wants what's best for me. Also because you said you would, and because I can get him to leave us alone."

"How" He asked curiously.

"It's easy. I'm hurt. I'll just play that up a bit, and plead in a very weak voice to accept that we're together and that nothing happened"

He laughed "Alright I'll get him"

A/N so how did you like it. Sorry to end it right here but my arms really hurt. Please R&R


	4. chap4

A/N: well my arms all better and now I can write again. Thanks to kingleby for caring so much that I had sunburn. Well it might be a while before I can update again. Today was my third day of high school. So I'll probably be busy. Also I'm kinda running out of ideas. I have part of the story that takes place later on planned out it's just getting to that, that's the problem. Well any way here's the next chapter. Oh does one know where I can get a really good picture of Gippal and Baralai on line. Because I want to try to draw them but I can't find them please let me know if you do. Thanxs.

Chap4

A few minutes later Gippal came in my father.

"That didn't take long." I said.

"He was right outside the inn sulking because the inn keeper wouldn't let him in."

"Rikku are you alright? How did you get hurt?" He asked.

"Yes father I'm fine. I'll explain everything if you shut up and sit down." I told him.

Surprisingly he listened.

"Two years ago Gippal and I were going out as you already know. But on the day before I was to go help Yunie he broke up with me. Back then I was immature. I didn't understand why he did that. I mean we were in love. I thought everything was perfect. I told him that I hated him. After that I never saw him again. He went to train for the crimson squad while I went to guard Yuna. But I didn't hate him. When we saw him again, I was with the Gullwings, I realized that. I had realized that I still loved him. Yesterday I went to go apologize for acting so immature. After the Gullwings broke up I realized that I had no one to rely on or rather no one to talk to. It seemed that everyone had a happy ending to their stories except me. Then I remembered that had someone, but the only problem was, was that I messed things up two years ago. It seems that for some reason there are powerful fiends on Mushroom Rock Road that were never there before. That's how I got hurt. I got attacked." I explained.

"But why didn't you use the airship to get to Djose?" My father asked.

"Because my idiotic Brother and buddy were fighting again so I decided to walk." I took a deep breath as if it was hard to breath. "Vydran (father) can't you just accept the fact that Gippal and I are together now?" I asked weakly.

"Not until I know why you two were in the same bed with his arm around your waist."

At that point Gippal lost it. "Tysh ed Cid. Fe fana cmaabehk. Hudrehk rybbahat." (Damn it Cid. We were sleeping. Nothing happened.) He yelled in Al Bhed.

"Gippal calm down. Father Gippal was the one who helped me when I got hurt. He let me stay in his room while he was going to stay at the inn. But I didn't want him to. I asked him to stay with me. I feel safe in his arms. His arm was around my waist to make me feel comfortable and safe, and besides I'm hurt. It's not like anything could have happened anyway." I said.

He looked at me, glared at Gippal, back at me again and sighed and threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine I can see that my opinion or my feelings don't count for anything." He said getting up to leave.

"Vydran""I said in exasperation.

"No don't say anything. I know what you're going to say. You're going to say that's not true I'm just over protective. Well am I right?" He asked.

I looked down.

"Thought so" He said as he left the room.

I sighed in exasperation "ooooo he's so stubborn"

"Rikku let me talk to him" Gippal said.

(Gippal's pov)

Damn I knew that Cid was stubborn but come on. All Rikku want was his approval. She may act like it's not important or that she doesn't care but I know her better. She always hides her emotions. She hates to feel weak, because people used to tease her about her age, me being one of them.

"Rikku let me talk to him." I said as I ran out the door.

"Cid wait" I said as I ran down the hallway trying to catch up to him. I finally caught up with him outside the inn.

When I caught up with him, he turned around and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt practically lifted me off the ground.

"Boy you better be planning on marrying her, because if you hurt her again, I swear I'll kill you." He threatened.

"Cid I plan on marrying her. That's why I came out here to ask your permission. I'm just waiting until she turns 18 next month. I'll ask her on her birthday." I said trying to keep my composure. Once Cid threatens you, you can pretty much bet that it's not an empty threat.

Satisfied with my answer he put me down and let go of my shirt. "Well you have my permission." Then he looked at me as if deciding something. He pulled out a box from his pocket and handed it to me. "I think it would be better if you gave this to her, rather than me."

I opened the box. It was a diamond necklace.

"That was the necklace that I was going to give to her mother, before the... before the accident Sin caused." He said choking on his emotions.

"Thank you Cid, I'll give it to her."

"Yea, well don't thank me yet, just remember what I told you, you hurt her and I'll kill you before you even have a chance to run."

"I know Cid and I don't plan on hurting her."

"Alright, then I'm holding you to that. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go yell at my son, and probably have to yell at Buddy to." He said as he called the airship.

"I walked him to the bridge where the airship was meeting him, and waited until he was gone before heading back to Rikku. I was almost to the end of the bridge when I heard and explosion. It came form the temple. When I got there, there was a lot of dirt and dust. Flying every where. I ran to the inn hoping Rikku was alright.

A/N: well what did you think please review and let me know? Again if any one knows a good site where I can find a full length picture of Gippal and Baralai let me know in a review. Thanxs.


	5. chap5

A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed. I'm so glad that everyone likes it. If any one knows a site where I can get a really good picture of gippal please tell me in a review. It's so hard to find a good picture of him. Well any way here's the next chapter.

Chap5

(Rikku's pov)

It was taking a while for Gippal to come back. I was starting to get worried. All of a sudden I heard an explosion, and the inn shook.

'Oh no Gippal, father!' I thought to my self.

I had to get out of here; I had to see what happened. I slowly got out of bed and using the wall for support I made it out into the hallway. I had to stop and take a breath. The pain in my side was increasing. I slowly made my way to the entrance of the inn. The inn keeper was missing. I opened the door. When I did all I saw was dust and dirt every ware. I coughed. I couldn't see anything. After a few minutes the dust cleared and I could see. I started walking outside very carefully.

"Gippal!" I cried. "Gippal where are you!" I yelled getting scared.

I saw a figure coming out of the dirt and dust that still lingered in the air.

"Gippal!" I cried out again.

"Rikku!" I heard him cry out as he started running towards me.

I tried to run to meet him, but the pain in my side me stop. He met with me and held me close to him.

"Rikku, your alright, Oh thank Yevon, even though I don't believe in him, I'm glad that your alright."

I laughed at his comment about Yevon and said "Me too Gippal, I'm glad your alright. What happened?"

"I don't know. I was seeing your father off; yes he's ok, when I heard an explosion. I came running to see if you were alright when I saw this." he said handing me a piece of paper.

It said…

'Full blood Al Bhed beware, I will find you and kill you all.'

"Gippal do you think this person is the reason for their being so many powerful fiends on Mushroom Rock Road? To attack and kill al the Al Bhed that come this way?" I asked.

"Could be, but we can't stay and find out. We have to get you to safety. Maybe we can ask your cousin if she can hide you until you get better." He told me.

"You're coming with me. I'm not leaving you behind. I love you Gippal and I don't want anything to happen to you." I said with the saddest and most pathetic look I knew.

"Alright I'll stay with you until you get better." He said falling for the face. "We'll call the airship." He said picking me up and carrying me (oh by the way every time he picks her up it's bridal style) to the blue sphere by the inn. He was about to call the airship when we heard it hovering above us. It landed and opened the landing so we could board. My father was the first to meet us at the landing.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Cid we have a problem. Someone is out to kill all of the Al Bhed." Gippal said handing him the letter.

"What are we going to do?" He asked.

"Rikku and I are going to Besaid until Rikku gets better. You Cid are going to raise the alarm to all the full blood Al Bhed and set up a secret safe house for them until we can figure out who wants us dead." Gippal said.

"But why do I have to?" Cid asked.

"Because you lead us before when we needed some one to help us. Now we need some one to help us again. That is why you must step up and be our leader again. Everyone one will trust you." Gippal said.

"Alright, fine I will. Brother, Buddy full speed ahead to Besaid." Cid ordered.

"Yes father." Brother said rather reluctantly.

"I'm taking Rikku to the cabin to get some rest." Gippal said.

He walked to the elevator with me still in his arms. When we got to the cabin he carried up the stairs and laid me down on one of the beds.

"Hoe do you feel?" He asked sitting next to me on the bed and moving some hair away from my face.

"Alright. Just tired and sore." I said.

"I can imagine. Well just get some sleep. Ok." He told me.

"Sure." I said through a yawn.

"I'm going to talk to your father about what's going on." He said as he kissed me on the forehead and left the room.

(Gippal's pov)

'I had to help Cid figure out what was going on. If I couldn't help fight until Rikku got better then I would help figure out who was behind all of this.' I thought to my self as I rode the elevator back down to the bridge.

"So Cid any idea who could've done this yet?" I asked.

"No not yet. But I'm thinking it's someone who is half Al Bhed." He said.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Well the note said 'full blooded Al Bhed beware.' So it would make sense. The person probably got mistreated when they were a child, and wants revenge."

"But it's not our fault that he's half Al bhed or that they got treated unfairly." I replied.

"True. But look at it in their perspective. If the Al Bhed followed Yevon's teachings he probably wouldn't have been tortured."

"Well how do we find out who's responsible for this then? There can't be too many half Al Bhed out there. Or is there?" I asked.

"I don't know. We'll have to try to figure a way to get all of the half Al Bhed together and pretend to be taking a survey to see how much they like or dislike being half Al Bhed. That way we can narrow the search. By the way do you know what caused the explosion at Djose? It didn't destroy the temple, just the machina and probably all of the people inside." Cid asked.

"Yea I do. It was a new type of weapon we were creating. It hasn't been tested yet though. It was called a Machina Blaster Bomb. It was meant to only destroy machina, not to destroy people or buildings, like it did. But the reason why it killed everyone was probably due to the fact that most definitely our stock of the Machina Blaster Bombs has been set off when the first one was. The explosion was probably too much for any one to survive." I explained.

"Why were you making that in the first place?"

"Because Rin asked us to in case the machina went haywire again. Also just for the satisfaction of knowing that we could make it." I answered.

"Hmmm I guess that's a good idea. Well any way don't you contact Yuna to let her know your coming?" Cid suggested.

"Sure" so I walked over to where the comm sphere and connected to Besaid. When the image connected I saw a baby with red hair crawling around the village. Then the sound connected and I heard Wakka calling hi son's name. Suddenly I saw Wakka chasing the baby around Besaid village. Lulu walked out of the tent next to comm sphere laughing slightly at the sight before her.

"Hi Lulu" I said.

She looked down at the sphere. "Oh Gippal right? How are you?" She asked kindly.

"I'm fine. But I uh see Wakka's not" I said trying to contain my laughter.

She laughed. "Yes ever since he started crawling Wakka's been chasing him around he house and the village. So what ca I do for you?"

"Is Yuna around? I need to ask her a question."

"Sure. Hold on a minute and I'll go get her." A few minutes later she came back with Yuna right behind.

"Hello Gippal. You said you had a question for me." She said.

"Yea, to make a long story short, Rikku and I are back together and she's hurt. We kinda need somewhere to hide for little while. Can we stay with you at the village?"

"Yes of course" She said.

"Thanks Yuan we'll be there shortly." I said. I disconnected the comm sphere just as we got there."

"I'm going to get Rikku now. Thanks for the lift." I said as I left to go get Rikku. I found her there still asleep in the cabin.

"Rikku." I said waking her up. "Where here."

A/N. So how did you like it? Please r&r it might be a while b4 I can update again. I've been grounded 4 a while


	6. chap6

A/N: Well I'm glad that everyone likes my story so far. Sorry if my chapters seem short. I write them out on paper first and 4 pages is only like 2 and 1/4 typed. So sorry again. Well here's the next chapter.

Chap6

(Rikku's pov)

"We're here already?" I groggily asked.

"Yes I already called Yuna. She knows that we're on our way." he said as he gently picked me up.

"Gippal let me try walking." I asked him

"Sure your strong enough?" he asked setting me down

"Yea as long as you hold me steady." I answered

I slowly walked down the stairs with Gippal supporting me around the waist. I made it down the stairs and to the elevator. When we go to the beach I had to stop and take a break.

"Rikku, let me carry you. You need your energy, and you don't want to re-open your wound again." Gippal said

"I'll be fine. I just need a break. And I won't open my wound as long as you help me." I stubbornly replied. Now as you all know it's natural for all Al Bhed to be stubborn. I was the queen of being stubborn.

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO! Gippal I'll be fine."

"Oh, ok so your going to be fine walking up the outcropping to the bridges by the waterfalls and up hill to right?" he shot back sarcastically

Damn he had a point "look let me walk as far as I can, and then when it gets really hard for me to walk then I'll let you carry me alright?"

He looked at me as if deciding what to do. "Alright, but as soon as it gets difficult for you to walk I'm carrying you." he finally agreed.

I made it all the way to the second bridge, but then the throbbing in my side became to much and Gippal had to carry me the rest of the way.

When we got to the entrance to the village Gippal set me down because I was getting restless, I wanted to walk. We took one step into the village when Vidina came crawling right towards us.

"Hi Vidina." said gippal as he bent down to pick him up. "Is your daddy still trying to catch you?"

Wakka came up to us breathless. "How did you catch him? I've been trying to catch him all day."

"Awww what's the matter Wakka? Can't keep track of your own kid. Tisk, tisk." Gippal said jokingly. I started laughing even though it hurt.

But Wakka didn't take it jokingly. He was trying hard to be a good father. He said "Hey you two try having a kid. Then you'll see it's not so easy."

Gippal and I quickly looked at each other and blushed deeply.

Gippal coughed. "Wakka I was joking. He just came up to me and I picked him up."

"Well still, don't make comments until you know what its like." he said satisfied that he throughly embarrassed us. "Anyway Yuna said you two were coming and that you were hurt. What's the matter, Rikku? Can't defend your self?" he said teasing me for laughing at him.

But I didn't care if he was joking or not. "I can defend my self just fine Wakka. How about you try going up against hundreds of Ultima and Omega weapons and lets see how you do!" I shouted. Getting pissed off.

"Whoa Rikku take it easy I was just joking." he said putting his hands up in defense.

"Joking? You were just joking huh. Well guess what Wakka this is nothing to joke about.

I could've died. I was fighting hundreds of Ultima and Omega weapons by my self. If gippal hadn't come when he did I wouldn't be standing here right now." I said on the brink of tears as realized how close to dying I actually was.

"Rikku I'm sorry." he said

"Well don't make comments until you know what it's like.' I said throwing his comment back at him. I looked past him and saw Lulu coming out of her tent walking towards us.

" Hello Rikku. How do you feel? I heard a lot of yelling" Lulu asked

"I feel fine except for the fact that Wakka over here is being mean to me." I said while pouting.

"Wakka what are you doing to Rikku? asked Lulu

"Me I wasn't doing anything. They started it all." he said trying to avoid Lulu's piercing gaze.

"Ohhh you did nothing?" I asked my anger level quickly rising "You call teasing me because I almost died nothing? Oh and might I add that my father scared the living daylights out of me, causing me to re-open my wound, in which I lost so much blood that I became dizzy." I shouted

"No, Rikku, I'm sorry. It was meant as a joke to get you back." he said in an apologetic tone.

"First of all it was Gippal who said 'what's the matter Wakka can't keep track of your own kid'?, I was just laughing. And besides you already got us back by embarrassing us. There was no reason for you to make fun of me for almost dying." I shouted. My voice kept getting louder, and my anger level still continued to rise.

"Wakka, how could you?" Lulu asked shocked

"Lu, I- it was meant as a joke. I didn't mean for it to turn out the way it did. Rikku I'm really sorry.

I ignored him and asked Lulu where Yuna was.

"You just missed her, she went to the beach with Tidus. Paine and Baralai are on there way here. They're meeting them at the docks." she answered

"Ok thanks Lulu. Oh hey can we watch Vidina for a while?" I asked

"Sure. If you think your up to it."

We walked up to the temple and sat on the landing

"Gippal can I hold him for a while?" I asked

"Sure just be careful." he said handing Vidina to me. Within a few minutes he fell asleep in my arms. "So why did you want to watch Vidina?" he asked

"Well because I haven't seen him in a while and I wanted to watch Lulu yell at Wakka." I said with a devilish grin

As if on cue Lulu started yelling

"What is wrong with you?" She's been injured Wakka. And keep in mind she's only 17. She's been through so much in her life." she yelled

"And what we haven't?" he asked "My parents were killed by Sin. I don't even remember them. Sin also took my brother Chappu. ( I think that's how you spell it.) Sin also killed you parents." He countered.

"That's true, but she's Al Bhed. She's probably faced a lot of discrimination when Sin was around and people still followed Yevon's teachings. She lost both her mother and her aunt to Sin, and she also helped us destroy Sin when she was only 15. Then there was the threat of Vegnagun. She helped defeat that, and she's only 17. We didn't go through that battle. Who knows how much harder Vegnagun was. Wakka she's saved the world twice. Yes she was helping Yuna, but that's the point. She's helped save the world twice. And now there's something else threatening her life." she said

"How do you know that?" he asked her

"Wakka it's simple, there never were Ultima and Omega weapons any ware near Djose or Djose temple, and now she was attacked by hundreds of them." Lulu said

As Lulu stopped yelling I saw Yuna, Tidus, Paine, and Baralai come around the corner and into the village. They stopped to talk to Lulu and Wakka, and Lulu pointed to where we sat at the temple. They started walking towards us, well, all except Yuna, she ran to me. I stood up and handed Vidina to Gippal. He was asleep but now he woke up and refused to calm down. 'Let Gippal handle it' I thought as I carefully made my way down the steps to meet my cousin.

"Oh my Yevon, Rikku are you alright. I was so worried when Gippal said you were hurt. I didn't know what had happened." Yuna said

"Yevon?" I asked my cousin jokingly

"Ohhh you know what I mean. Are you alright. What happened?"

"I'll explain everything later. I want to know how everyone is first." I said. I knew my cousin hated waiting . But I decided to make her wait, it was fun, at times. " Hiya, Paine, Baralai, how are you?"

"We're fine Rikku. What did you do to your self now?" she asked in the same monotone voice she always uses.

I ignored her question as I saw the ring on her finger. I squealed in delight. "Awww when did you two get married, and why didn't I know?" I asked

She sighed in annoyance. "15 respect points Rikku." she said

"Hey that's not fair. I only asked you a simple question." I complained

"We got married last week in secret, so it would cause a commotion." Baralai answered

"Awww how cute. Though I always thought Yunie would be the first out of the three to get married." I said. Out the corner of my eye I saw Yuna and Tidus blush.

Pain sighed again. "10 more respect points Rikku. If keep this up you'll have points left by the end of day."

"That's not fair." I said, but as she glared at me I quickly shut my mouth.

Lulu and Wakka came up to us and asked if we would like to eat dinner with them.

"Sure." we said

"After dinner I'll tell you all what happened." I said

So we all headed to Lulu and Wakka's hut and had dinner.

An hour later we were all sitting around pleasantly stuffed.

"Wow Lulu that was really good." I said

"Thank you Rikku. Now if I remember right you said you would tell us what happened." she replied

"Right well to make a really long story short, two years ago when Gippal and I first broke up, I told him that I hated him, which wasn't true. So about 2 days ago I went to go apologize. I still loved him, but when I got to Mushroom Rock Road I was attacked by hundreds of Ultima and Omega weapons. Gippal saved me and helped me with my wound. The next day someone killed everyone in the Machine Faction. Gippal you know what happened next you tell the rest." I ended

"Well her father came to visit and I was seeing him off when I heard the explosion. The Machine Faction was working on a new weapon of sorts. It was called the Machina Blaster Bomb. We were making it for Rin incase the Machina went haywire again. I ran back to the inn to see if Rikku was alright, when I found a note saying 'all full blooded Al Bhed beware. I will find and kill you all.' the Machina Blaster Bomb was only meant to destroy machina and nothing else, not people or buildings, but they haven't been tested, so we found out the hard way that our invention still had a few bugs to work out, and plus the fact that our whole supply of them was destroyed to doesn't help either. But any way that was shortly before I called you Yuna to see if we could lay low for a while. But now we have a two problems, we have the maniac who's out to kill all of the Al Bhed, but soon we'll have New Yevon chasing us down." he ended (Oh by the way just for my story Nooj and Baralai rule together as New Yevon).

"What do you mean Gippal?" Baralai asked confused.

"Yea what do you mean?" I asked?

"A very select few of the Machine faction wasn't Al Bhed. They're now dead. The old hatred for the Al Bhed is gonna return and people are going to demand justice, and that you catch us before we 'kill again'." Gippal said sighing

"That's not true Gippal." Baralai said shocked

"Yes Baralai it will." Paine said

"Well what ever happens we won't turn you in. We know the truth, and besides your one friends." He answered

"Thank you Baralai." I said

"Any way do you know who did this?" Paine asked

"No but we think it's someone who's only half Al Bhed." Gippal replied

'Why do you think that persons half Al Bhed?" Yuna asked

"Well it would make sense. When that person was a child they were probably shunned wherever they went. Two years ago no one liked the Al Bhed because we didn't follow Yevon's teachings. They want revenge even though the Al Bhed are no longer hated. But that will change soon. Plus in the note it said 'full blood Al Bhed beware." he answered.

"Well we'll help you." Yuan answered

"Thank you Yuna, but this is an Al Bhed problem. And Al Bhed deal with Al Bhed problems. Usually alone." I said

"But I'm Al Bhed too." Yuna complained.

"Yes but Yunie your only half Al Bhed and not many people know about your heritage. This is a Full Blooded Al Bhed problem. Besides you deserve some quite time to your self, for once." I told her

"But what about you Rikku? You've been through just as much as I have." she answered

"No not really. You were willing to sacrifice your life for spira, you were willing to die, and then you find out that everything that you've lived for was a lie. Then you loose Tidus for two years. Which I give you credit for. If Gippal just disappeared like that, I don't know what I would do. The you fought Vegnagun, and again we could've lost out allies. Besides, I love the adventure." I said

"Are you sure Rikku?" she asked

"Yes I'm positive."

"If you need help in the future, you better ask us." Paine said.

I smiled at my friends, glad that I had people I could count on "I promise."

"Well it's getting late, I think we should get some sleep." Yuna said

"Riku, you tow can stay with us, if it's to hard to get up or move." Lulu said

"Thank you Lulu, we'll do that.' I said

"Alright let's get a bed made up for you two." she said "Oh wait do you two sleep together?" Lulu asked

"Yes. I answered "I don't feel safe without him by my side."

Lulu smiled at us and left the room to get blankets and pillows. (In my story the tents are a lot bigger)

"Rikku is that true?" he asked wrapping his arms around my waist from behind me.

"Yes Gippal it is." I said in a slightly embarrassed tone.

"Rikku you don't have to be shy about it, I feel the same way." he said kissing my neck. "You slept fine on the airship." he said

"Or so you think. I had just fallen asleep when you came in to wake me up." I replied

"But I thought you fell asleep as soon as I left."

"Nope. I just yawned. I was tossing and turning the whole time."

"Rikku you should've told me you wanted me with you." he said kissing my neck again.

"Well you wanted to talk to my father, so I let you." I answered, tilting my head to give him better access.

We just stood there for a few minutes, with Gippal kissing my neck still when Lulu came in and said "ahem" to get out attention. We both jumped a little

"Now I'm just going to warn you two, nothing better happen tonight." she said

"Lulu I'm hurt, so nothing can 'happen' for a while." I stated

"I know, I'm just letting you know. You can use the couch to sleep on if you want to." she said

"Thanks Lulu" I said

"Goodnight"

"Night"

Gippal and I slept on the couch the same way we did when we first started going out. With my back pressed against his chest and his arm around my waits.

"I love you Gippal"

"I love you too Rikku."

A/N: Well what did you think? Sorry it took so long to post this chapter I was trying to make it longer than the others. Well and please review. oh one more thing. my best friend just started a story too. its called wellofsouls. its a really awsomestory.wellofsouls is an online game and a mix of other games kinda. well my friend made a story ou of it. her pen name is MoonGoddessAngie. just a wrning if you do read it, towards the middle to the end of the story the rating will defenatly go up. so you have been warned. but it's a really cool story if you want to read it. could you just please give it a try. she doesn't have amny reviews b/c it's in the crossover section. but you can find it by using the search engin. thanks. well please review my story. :)


	7. chap7

A/N: Sorry this one took me so long, I've been busy with school and trying to update my other story. Thanxs to all who reviewed my last chapter, and well here's the next one hope you enjoy. Oh and this chapter has a bit of fluff in it too. :)

Chap7

(A month later)

When I woke up Gippal was still sleeping. I tried to get up, but his arm tightened around my waist.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked sleepily.

"Go back to sleep Gippal. I'm just getting some exercise. I'm going for a run. Now that my wounds all healed, I need to stretch." I told him gently.

"You know sleeping's impossible without you. So let me get dressed and I'll race you." he said

"Ok but you have to let go of me so I can get dressed." I said

"But I don't want to." he replied.

I sighed. It's been the same thing every morning since the villagers built us our own tent, he won't let me get up in the mornings.

"Gippal let me up." I whined

"Fine." he said as he let go of my waist.

"Thank you." I said as I used my thief dress sphere.

10 minutes later Gippal was finally dressed. We were at the entrance to the village.

"Alright. First one to the docks wins. On your mark get set go!!!!!" I shouted as I took off running up the hill. I really don't think Gippal was trying. I haven't run in about a month and already I was about a mile ahead of him. It could also be the fact that he was half asleep. I made it to the beach fine but I found my self slowing down. "Oh cred (s), I can't let him beat me." I thought. Gippal was starting to speed up. Now I know why he was going so slow he was pacing himself. "Well I can still beat him." I thought. I used every last bit of energy I had, and made it to the docks just a few seconds before he did. I sat on the sand and laid back, gasping for air. Man was I really out of shape if I couldn't run at least 3 miles with out getting tired.

"Not bad Cid's girl. You beat me." he said

"Gippal...." I said sitting up. "If you... don't stop..... calling me that....I'm really going

to hurt you." I said panting.

"Sorry Rikku, it's a habit."

"It's ok, just don't do it again. "I said as I laid my head on his shoulder, as he sat on the sand next to me. "So what did you get me for my birthday? You do remember that it's today don't you?" I asked

"Of course I remembered. You'll get your gift later tonight." he said

"Ohhh please can I have it now." I asked

"No." he simply stated

"Please?" I said lifting my head to look at him."

"No." he aid leaning his head closer to mine.

Our lips almost met when we heard my cousin anxiously calling my name.

I sighed. Instead we leaned our foreheads together. "I should let her know I'm ok." I said reluctantly.

"Yea I guess you should." he said

I got up and walked to the entrance to the beach where my cousin and Paine stood.

"Hiya Yunie." I said trying to be cheerful.

"Where were you? I was so worried." she said

"Yuna chill. Gippal and I raced to the beach, and we were just siting there by the docks." I answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did...did I interrupt something?" she asked

"Oh no, no why would you think that?" I asked with obvious sarcasm in my voice.

"Oh ok, just wanted to make sure. I would feel really bad if I interrupted you two." she said completely missing the sarcasm.

Paine got it though and snickered to her self slightly and finally it was my turn to glare at her. She just glared back.

"What did I say?" Yuna asked

"Nothing Yuna. Don't worry about it." I said with a sigh.

"Okay well any way since it's your birthday, Paine and I are going to take you to Luca.

She said.

"How are you guys going to get there?" Gippal asked coming to stand next to me with his hand around my waist.

"We're going by boat. Now that machina are no longer forbidden all of the boats have been updated so it only takes about an hour to get there." Yuna replied

"Mind if I tag along. For the boat ride I mean. There's something I have to pick up, and then when your all done we can meet up at the docks." he said

"Sure why not."Yuna said

"What do you have to pick up at Luca?" I asked him curiously.

"Just some things." he said not about to give it away.

I rolled my eyes. "When does the boat leave?" o asked

"In a few minuets." Paine said. "So we better get going."

So we walked back to the docks and got on the boat a few minuet before it was about to leave. As we boarded the boat Gippal and I went to the top deck.

"Actually I can give you part of your gift now." Gippal said taking a box out of his pocket and then handed it to me.

When I opened the box my breath caught in my troat. Inside was a beautiful diamond and emerald necklace. "Gippal it's beautiful where did you get this?" I asked

"This was the gift your father was going to give to your mother on their anniversary before the accident." Gippal said quietly. "He thought it would be better if I gave it to you."

My eyes started to water. My mother died on my 8th birthday. She had gone to Luce to get me my birthday gift she had gotten made for me. She got the feather earrings I used to wear on the ends of my hair. But on her way back from Luca Sin attacked her ship. Incidentally that's the same way my aunt died. So that's another thing Yunie and I have in common. I had vowed that I would wear the earrings on te ends of my hair until I saw Sin destroyed. It was a symbol of my word. That I would help defeat Sin one way or another and avenge my mother's death along with everyone else Sin killed. Now I wear then for what they are earrings, and also to show that I stuck by my word. I helped to defeat Sin and avenged my mothers demise.

"Gippal thank you. I don't know what to say." I said. I was leaning against the pole that held the awning in place. Gippal was sitting cross-legged in front of me.

"You don't have to say anything Rikku. I understand." he quietly answered

I leaned forward to kiss him, but that's kinda hard to do when your both siting cross-legged. So I instead fell over on top of him

"Sorry!" I said embarrassed

"That's ok." he said. The thing was, was that we didn't want to move, and so we didn't. Then he carefully turned me over so I was underneath him, and he was hovering above me. "Rikku." he said right before he kissed me. It was our first real kiss. Not just a quick kiss on the lips. I parted my lips and felt his tongue brush against mine. I moaned slightly before I heard someone go "Ah-hem" we looked up startled to see Yuna and Paine standing at the top of the stairs, both with silly grins on their faces.

"We've arrived." Yuna said

"Ok Thanks."I said as I felt a blush creeping up my face.

They walked down the stairs laughing that they caught us in an embarrassing situation. Gippal got off me and sat up offering his hand to me to help me up.

"Well that was embarrassing." Gippal said

"Yea." I agreed.

So we walked down the stairs hand in hand. (In know probably not that possible those steps were pretty narrow, but just pretend that it's possible) When we got off the boat Gippal kissed me lightly and said "I'll meet you back here at five. Ok?"

"Sure." I said as we parted ways. "So where are we going first?" I asked

"Well it's about one now. So lets go get something to eat.

As we were walking to a place called Dravidian's Yuna _and_ Paine kept asking me what happened.

"Nothing happened." I said for about the tenth time. "He just kissed me and that was all."

"But then why were you under him?" Yuna asked.

"Yuna for crying out loud DROP IT! Nothing happened except for Gippal kissing me.!!" I yelled as we got to the restaurant. Apparently the owner of the place is an al bhed, and decided to name the place after him-self We had a quick lunch, we each had a salad and iced-tea ( I have no idea what they eat)

"So where are we going first?" I asked

"Well I'm going to get you a black dress." Yuna said

"WHY!?" I asked "You know I don't like dresses, especially black ones."

"Well what are you going to do if Gippal decides to take you out to a nice restaurant? None of you outfits are good enough. And besides every girl needs a little black dress." Yuna responded.

"Fine. And what are you getting me Paine?"

"Well I know this place that can service and fix your dress spheres and garment grid. I'll be taking you there and paying for it." she replied.

"Really? Thank you. Do you guys want to see what Gippal got me for my birthday?"

"Sure." they answered

So I took out the box and showed them the diamond and emerald necklace. They gasped in shock.

"Rikku where did he get this?" Yuna asked with a wide eyed stare.

"It was going to be my mothers. It was the anniversary gift my father was going to give to my mother before her death. Gippal said my father thought it would be best if he gave it to me, rather then him."

"Wow Rikku, this is very beautiful." Yuna said

"Yea and he said that I'll get the rest of my gift later."

"I'm definitely getting you black dress." Yuna said

So we walked down all of the new streets that have been built since the defeat of Sin and Vegnagun. I tried on so many dresses, but didn't find one that I liked. It wasn't until we came to the last dress store in all of Luca that I found one that I liked. By that time it was about 4:30, and we had to go meet Gippal soon.

"Hey guys I think I found one that I like." I said

"It's about time." Paine said. "You know what, Yuna take her in t go get the dress and I'll take her garment grid and dress spheres to ger serviced."

"Alright." I said and handed her my grid and spheres.

We walked into the shop and the sales lady asked if we needed any help.

"Yea, I'd like to see that dress in the window please."

"Of course." she said as she got the dress out of the window.

I went into the dressing room and tried it on. The dress had a plunging neckline, and a low back. It had off the shoulder sleeves. The dress was form fitting and at the knees started to flare out slightly and settled nicely at my feet. It had a slit from the bottom of the dress to the top of my thigh. I took my hair down from the bandanna and took out the braids. It fell to about the middle of my back and was wavy from all of the braids I wear. I put on the necklace that Gippal gave me and looked in the mirror. 'Wow' I thought 'I've never looked this beautiful. "Well Yuna, what do you think?" I asked

"I'm definitely getting it for you, along with a pair of black high-heeled shoes."

"Can I wear it out? I'm meeting my boyfriend in like 15 minuets and I want to see his reaction." I asked

"Sure." she replied kindly

So she rang up the dress and shoes and Yuna paid for it. After, we went to go meet Paine.

"Nice choice Rikku. Here's you garment grid. Everything's been updated and if needed fixed. Now we have to go meet Gippal and we only have 10 minuets." she said

"Thanks so much you guys. Now let's go see the look on Gippal's face."

The walk back to the docks took only about 5 minuets, even with the high-heeled shoes. Surprisingly I didn't fall once, which Is pretty good considering I've never worn shoes like these before. When we got to the docks Gippal was waiting for us. Paine and Yuna were standing in front of me. When we stopped walking they stepped aside to let Gippal see me. His jaw like dropped to the ground.

"Wow, Rikku, you, wow. You look gorgeous." he said

I blushed. "Thank You."

"Well I'm taking Rikku to a restaurant. So you two can head back to Besaid without us." he said

So we said goodbye and watched Yuna and Paine. Then Gippal turned to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Damn Rikku I've never seen anything as beautiful as you." he whispered in my ear.

I felt my heart skip a beat. Then he brought his lips to mine. He deepened the kiss by parting my lips with his tongue. I felt his heart rate speed up along with mine. We just stood on the docks a few minuets longer.

He pulled back form the kiss ad said "Well shall we go?"

"Sure." I said

So he wrapped his arms around my waist and started leading me to the restaurant.

"So what did you have to pick up." I asked

"You'll find out later." he replied.

"Ok. Well then can you at least tell me where we're going?"

"Yes. We're going to a new little restaurant called 'Rayfah'." he replied

"Heaven?" I said translation his Al Bhed

"It was opened by an al bhed not to long ago. I think his name was Dravidian."

"He opened two restaurants?" I asked

"I guess so. Why?"

"Because we ate lunch at a place called 'Dravidians"

"Ok well, we're here." he said

When we got to the door, the door man said "Ah, Sir Gippal, Lady Rikku, we've been expecting you. Your table is ready. It's the last table in the back, so no one can disturb you."

"Thank you." I said as we entered

Gippal lead me to the back of the restaurant and to our table. He pulled out my chair for me and waited until I sat down. Then he pushed in my chair

"Thank you Gippal. I didn't know you were such a gentleman." I said teasingly.

"With a gorgeous girlfriend, I had better be." he replied

I just laughed at his remark.

Just then a man in a black suit come up to our table

"Hello. I'm Dravidian. I am the owner of this restaurant. I'm here to make your dinning experience as pleasant as possible. If there's anything your unhappy with, please feel free to tell me." then he looked at me. "Ah Lady Rikku, what a pleasure to have you at our restaurant. Please may I ask, how is your father Cid?"

The way he said 'my father Cid' unnerved me a little. He had a hint of venom in his voice. "He's fine. Thank you."

"Glad to hear it." he said with what seemed to be a forced smile. Then his comm sphere started to vibrate (I know forgot to explain, the comm sphere has been updated and is now kinds like a cell phone.) "Dravidian sir, we can't find the girl, we've......." He shut it off quickly. "Will you please excuse me for a moment, I really must take this."

"Gippal." I whispered. "There's something really weird about him."

"I know, but he won't be here long, so please try to enjoy yourself."

"I'm with you, so fo course I'll enjoy my self."

Dravidian came back looking slightly annoyed and really happy at the same time. "A waiter will be with you shortly." he said as he left.

"Gippal how did you find this place?" I asked

"Well after I picked up what I had to pick up. I had some time left, so I wandered around and found this place."

"Can you please tell me what you had to get?"

"Rikku, I'll tell you later."

"Fine" I said with a sigh

Just then our waiter came and asked us what we wanted. I ordered a chicken salad and an iced tea. Gippal ordered a steak and a soda. It only took a few minuets to prepare our meal. We ate in a comfortable silence. After dinner I excused my self to go use the restroom. I came back to the table and once again Gippal pulled out the chair and for me and pushed it back in when I sat down. Gippal accidently bumped into the table causing my fork to fall on the floor. But instead of getting up he got on one knee and looked at me. My heart started to race.

"Rikku, we've known each other since we were practically babies. We were always best friends, and when we got old enough we started going out. We took a short 'break' for two years, and still we ended up together again. So now Rikku, I have question for you. Will you marry me?

A/N: hehehe cliff hanger. Well what did you think. Will she yes? Stay tuned for the next chapter. It might be a while before I can update. My week is going 2 be so busy, I might not have time to type for a while. Well any way. Please review.


	8. chap8

A/N: I am so sorry it took me this long to update, my computer wouldn't let me on to fan fiction, and other sites, but it's finally fixed and now here's the next chapter. Oh and warning fluff a little later on in the chapter.

Chap 8.

I stared at him in shock. Finally the realization of he just asked me sunk in.

"Oh, my, Gippal yes, yes of course I'll marry you." I said extremely happy.

He took a box out of his pocket and opened it. Inside was a ring shaped like my knives (the ones from her thief dress sphere) bent around to make a ring, which was studded with diamonds, right before the blade touched the handle was an emerald. He took it out of the box and slipped it on my finger. I got up and kissed him long and semi-passionately. After a few minuets we pulled apart.

"See why I wanted you to wait until later. This is what I had to pick up in Luca."

"Oh Gippal." I said lovingly, unaware of the stares we were getting from the nearby tables.

"Well our waiter's coming so why don't we order dessert." he said.

So when the waiter came each of us ordered cheesecake(I love cheesecake, it's so good). We kept stealing from each others plates. After we finished the waiter came to clear our plates and bring us the check. After Gippal paid for dinner, he offered me his arm and we walked towards the front of the restaurant.. We heard people whispering to themselves. We herd things like "Muug drana'c myto Rikku" (look there's lady Rikku.) "Oay, pid fru ec cra fedr? Ran puovneaht?" (Yea but who is she with? Her boyfriend?) "Hu oui eteut ran veyheii. Tuh'd oui laa dra nehk yht dra pnuyt csema uh ran vyla?" (No you idiot, her fiancee. Don't you see the ring and broad smile on her face?) That made me smile even more. When we got to the door Dravidian was greeting new costumers.

"Well I trust your stay here was a good one?" he asked

"Yes a very good one. Thank you." I looked at his eyes and found that they were green but not Al Bhed eyes. They weren't swirly.

As we left I asked if Dravidian was a full Al Bhed.

"Yes the restaurant is for Al Bhed ad is run by an Al Bhed." He said

"Well then Dravidian isn't the owner, He's only half Al Bhed." I said

"What do you mean?"he asked

"Well he didn't have Al Bhed eyes, they were green but not swirly."

"Hmmmm, ok but let's worry about that later, tonight we celebrate." he said.

"Where should we go? It's to late to return to Besaid." I asked

"How about we go to Rin's inn (haha that rhymes)" he said

"Ok sure." I answered

The inn wasn't to far from the restaurant so it didn't take long for us to get there. When we did get there we saw Rin checking up on the inn.

"Ah Lady Rikku, Gippal, how are you?" he asked

"We're doing fine Rin, thanks for asking."

"Oh, Gippal how are the Machina Blaster Bombs coming along?" he asked

"Umm well about that, see someone is trying to destroy all of the Al Bhed and they destroyed the Machine Faction with them. We didn't get a chance to do final testing on them to see if we had to fix anything on them. Apparently we did. Then bombs didn't destroy te temple but it killed all of the people. When that person set off one of them they set off our whole stock." he explained.

"Oh really?" he asked surprised

"Yes and we're trying to find the person who did this." I said "Well any way, we'd like a room please."

"For the both of you?" he asked

"Yes Rin, he's my fiancee" I replied

"Congratulation. You can have the last room on he right. Room 23. Oh and Rikku I have a message for you. Your father has been hurt and is in the Hospital/Home they created in Bikanel. He's not doing do well. He's in critical condition, I'm sorry that's all I know."

My heart sank. "Ok thank you Rin." I turned around and started walking to our room with Gippal by my side.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked me gently.

"Yea, I'll be fine, I'm just going to take a shower. Ok?" I told him.

"Yes, sure." he said

I walked to the bathroom and closed the door, and took off my shoes and my dress and turned on the water, got it to the right temperature, then I got in. I let the water run over me for te minuets, and to my surprise I found my self crying. I knew who attacked my father. It was the same person who's trying to kill the Al Bhed, it had to be. We had ti catch this gut before he killed any more any innocent people. I stayed in for a little while longer, and then got out. It was then that I realized that I nothing comfortable to sleep in. "Damn" I muttered to my self. I was still crying silently when I got out of the shower. I wrapped a towel around me and walked into the bedroom. Gippal say me crying and embraced me.

"Shh, Rikku, it's gonna be alright. I'm sure he'll be fine. We'll find who ever's doing this and we'll stop him, I promise." he said calmly

"I know but, but Gippal we could be next."

"Well we wont let that happen, now will we? We're stronger than most Al Bhed, we'll fight him if necessary."

I smiled at him and rested my head on his chest for a while, while he trying to sooth me by rubbing his hand up and down my back.

"Ok, my turn for a shower." he said after a few minuets

I nodded my head. As he went into the bathroom for his shower, I went to go sit on the bed. I brought my knees up to my chest, and started crying silently again. I knew what Gippal said was true. It just wasn't fair. Why, why can't the Al Bhed finally live in peace with every one else now. We've proven our innocence. We're proven that machina aren't bad. I sighed, and heard Gippal coming out of the shower.

(Gippal's pov)

'I hated it when Rikku got upset like this. I mean yea what Cid said last time we saw him was pretty rude, but he was still her father and I know she still loves him.' I thought. I came out of the shower I saw her siting on the bed crying still. I sat next to her and held her for a little while, letting her crying for a few more minuets.

"It's not fair Gippal, it's just not fair. Why do we have to live out lives in fear still? Why?" she sobbed. "We've proven our selves innocent, and on more than one occasion, we've proven machina aren't bad either. So why are we still hated?" she cried.

I don't know Rikku. But we'll just prove ourselves again, we'll do it as many times as it takes." I said.

I felt her sigh and relax against me. I kissed her lightly at first and slowly started to deepen the kiss. I heard her moan, and mover herself against me. I lightly pushed her on her back and continued to deepen the kiss. I felt her heart rate speed up, as did mine. I moved to trail kisses down her neck and stopped before things went to far. I looked her in the eyes, asking permission to continue. She smiled at me and kissed me back. Needless to say, our towels didn't stay on for very long that night.

(Rikku's pov)

I woke up with Gippal's arms around my waist, still sleeping. I remembered the night before and couldn't help but smile. I moved closer against him, loving the feel of being this close to Gippal. My movement woke him up.

"Good morning sweetheart ." he said

"Good morning darling." I replied

We looked at each other and started laughing. We've never been ones to use lovey-dovey nicknames, and it sounded weird to us whenever we did.

"How did you sleep last night?" he asked

"Great, you?"

"Wonderful. Thank you."

We just stayed that way for a little while, his arms wrapped firmly around my waist. Of course my memories had to ruin the moment. I remembered that my father is in critical condition at the Hospital in Bikanel. I sighed

"Rikku, what's wrong?" he asked

"my father." I reminded him

"Oh right... so I'm guessing that you want to go to Bikanel, right?" he asked

"Yea. Can we leave from here in a few hours?" I asked

"Yes of course." he replied

"Thanks" I said "just let me get dressed and I'll call Yuna to let her know that we'll be away for a while." I replied.

"Sure" he said as he let me up.

I decided to wear my songstress dress sphere. "I'll be right back I'm going to use the commsphere at the front of the inn." I told him

"Alright." he replied

I closed the door the door behind me and leaned against te wall. Even though I was upset about my father. I couldn't help the smile that crept across my face. Last night was the best night of my life. I never thought that is was possible to be this happy. Slowly I got away from the wall. And walked to the front of the inn. Rin was still at the front desk. "Good morning Rin." I said cheerfully.

"Good morning Lady Rikku. Did you sleep well?" he asked me.

"Yes very well thank you. I was wondering, may I use your commsphere to contact Besaid?" I asked

"Sure." he answered as he handed me the commsphere. "You may use it anywhere you want, in case you want some privacy."

"Thank you Rin." I said as I walked outside. I stretched for a few minuets . I loved the smell of te morning, it was so fresh and clean smelling. I went to the hill that was right across from the inn and sat down on the dewy grass. He sun had almost finished rising, and the sky was a lingering orange mixed with the blue sky. I connected to Besaid and waited until the picture and sound come on. Wakka was still chasing Vidina all around the village, and it didn't look like he was stopping anytime soon. I saw Lulu walk out of her tent.

"Hi Lulu." I said

Lulu looked down. "Hello Rikku, how did your date go?" she asked me.

"Really well, thank you. Is my cousin around?" I asked

"Yes hold on"

A few minuets later she came back with Yuna in tow. She walked away looking quite pissed.

"Uh what happened?" I asked

'She caught Tidus and I making put. He was kissing my neck when she came in." she replied, but hr blush told me things almost went farther. "So what's up?"

"Well the date went well, but we're going to Bikanel for a while. My father was attacked and is in critical condition and we're going to visit him."

"Is he ok? What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

" I don't know, that's why we're going to visit. I think that he was attacked by the same person who attacked Djose." I told her

"We'll come and visit too, but a little later on. There's a crisis going on. New Yevon just released the information regarding the attack on e Machine faction, the fact that it was destroyed along with the people working there. The people of Spira are not happy at all. They're blaming the Al Bhed, just like they always do when things go wrong. Baralai has asked me to make a speech to calm the people down, and I will. But I was wondering if before you go to Bikanel, you'll come with me, when I make my speech, and Gippal to, if he can."

"Hey I heard my name. What's going on?" he asked as he came to sit next to me.

"Yuna wants to know if we'll make an appearance at her speech today. It's to calm down all of the people of spira. They're blaming the Al Bhed for the destruction of the Machine Faction." I explained

"Sure if you want to rikku." he replied

"I do." I said

"Great. I'll contact Baralai and have him meet you at the gates so nothing happens to you at Bevelle.

"But aren't you making your speech at Luca, like last time?" I asked her.

"Yes, but we're going to all meet up at Bevelle first so I can tell you what we're doing and I need to calm down first. I always get so nervous before I make a speech." she replied

"Alright yuna we'll see you in a little while." I said

"Bye."

I disconnected the commsphere.

"Well I guess we should get going I said after a few minuets.

"Sure" Gippal answered. He helped me up from the ground keeping a firm hand around my waist as we walked back to the inn to return the commsphere.

"Thank you Rin. Here's you commsphere back." I said handing him the commsphere back to him.

"You're quite welcome, Rikku." he replied

"Well we better get going. We have to go to Bevelle. So have a great ay and please be careful rin we still don't know who's attacking the Al Bhed yet." I replied

"I will, thank you. Oh and tell you father I say hello."

"I will" I said as Gippal and I walked out of the inn.

"We're going to have to be careful now that everyone hate's us again. We have to be very discreet. Especially the closer we get to Bevelle." he told me

"I know" I replied

We started walking down Mi'ihen Highroad hand in hand

"Hey I have an idea." I said

"What"

"I'll race you to the entrance to Mushroom Rock Road." I said

He looked at me with a wary expression. "I don't know Rikku, what if there are still powerful fiends there?" he asked

"I won't go through te entrance I'll stop a few yards before it ok?" I asked

"Alright." he said "But wait your going to run in a skirt?" he asked skeptically

"No I said changing into my thief dress sphere. "Ready? On your mark, get set, GO!" I shouted. I took off running as fat as I could with Gippal right behind me.

We came to the bend that lead to the entrance to the Mushroom Rock Road, when I heard Bevelle guards coming our way. I stopped short causing Gippal to run right into me.

"Ow what the hell was that for?" he asked

"Shhh." I said grabbing his arm and jumping off the road and onto an near by ledge. "Stay down and be as quiet as quiet as possible." I said with my heart pounding in my ears.

To be continued...

A/N: I am so sorry it took me so long to update. I've had so much school work, and plus I had to finish writing it first. I'm not sure when I'll have te next chapter up but I'll try to make it sooner that this one was. Any way please read and review, oh and thank you to all ho reviewd my last chapter and for putting up with me taking so long.


	9. chap9

A/N: sorry it's taken me so long to update. I just haven't been in the mood to type for a while. That and the fact that it's taken me forever to finish writing the chapter in the first place. Oh well, here's the next chapter.

chap 9:

My heart was pounding loudly in my ears. I felt as if I was going to be sick, but I swallowed the felling and kept quiet. The guards came around te bend and I could hear them clearly.

"I can't believe that Praetor Baralai sent every last guard away form the temple and from Bevelle to do the most ridiculous tasks you could think of." the first guard said.

"Yea I know what you mean. 'Protect the Al bhed during Lady Yuna's speech. If you ask me they should all be destroyed." the second guard said.

"I know but one of the Praetor's closest friends is an Al bhed."

"Really!"

"Yea" he said. They walked past us and out of earshot, talking about how he found this juicy piece of information out.

After I was sure they were gone, I got up and looked around, next to me I saw Gippal get up and brush the dirt and grass off of his clothes.

"How the hell did you hear that?" he asked "The only thing I could hear was the wind rushing past me."

"Years of training." I simply said "We have to be more careful, there could be more guards coming."

"We should try to blend in as much as possible, which means you should probably change into normal clothes." he said

"Your right." I agreed, changing into my trainer dress sphere, and dismissed my pet monkey. Gippal eyed my new look, apparently not used to me not sowing so much skin. The only part that was showing was my chest and not by much. I laughed at him. "Oh come on Gippal, I'm only wearing this until we get to Bevelle." I said

"I know, but that's just torture." he said with a mock pout.

"Awww, I'm sorry but you said blend in." I reminded him.

"Can't you change into your songstress dress sphere?" he asked me

"That's not really blending in." I said

"It is if you rarely wear that out fit, because then no one would recognize you."

"Fine." I said using my songstress dress sphere with the purple mini skirt he loves so much. I saw his face lighten up. I rolled my eyes. "Well shall we go?" I asked.

"Sure" he said taking my hand in his.

We walked the rest of the way to the Mushroom rock Road talking about our future, the wedding, and possibly and kids. We got to the Mushroom Rock Road and saw that there were no fiends at all. As a matter of fact no one was there it was completely deserted.

"That's weird there is absolutely nothing here." I said

"Yea, you're right" he replied

We walked the rest of the way to Djose in silence, each of us pondering what will happen when we got to the temple. When we got there, there were a few people mourning the ones they lost. They weren't paying attention to the exist, so we tried to turn back to go to the Moonflow without being spotted. But that's kinda hard to do when your walking on dirt and rocks.

Some one heard us and said "Excuse me." to us. We had no choice but to stop and turn around to face the woman.

"Can we help you?" I asked her

"You two are Al bhed aren't you?" the woman asked us

I looked at Gippal and nodded my head yes.

"Don't worry none of us here hate you. My Son is half Al Bhed. We don't blame the Al Bhed for what happened. My name's Layla. Do you think you could tell us what happened?" she asked.

"My name's Rikku, and this is my fiancé Gippal." I replied

"Are you Cid's daughter?" she asked me with a curious look

"Yes I am."

"Huh. Well anyway do you think you could tell us what happened?" she asked

"Well, we don't know to much our selves, but what we do know is that someone is trying to kill all of the Al Bhed." I said

"We're guessing whoever did this knew that there were a lot Al Bhed here at the time and decided to take advantage of opportunity." Gippal said

"You said your name was Gippal, right?" Layla asked

"Yes." he replied

"You were the leader of the Machine Faction weren't you? Please if you could just tell me a little more on what happened I might be able to help you." she desperately requested.

"Mother please, you're bothering them. They don't know what's going on any more than you do." someone said from behind us.

We turned around and saw Dravidian walking towards Layla.

"Dravidian's your son?" I asked

she nodded her head yes.

I was about to say something, but Gippal put his hand on my shoulder. And I knew he wanted to handle this.

"Thank you for your concern Dravidian, but she wasn't bothering us. Well we hate to be rude but we must be going now. Layla it was nice to meet you, and I assure you we're doing all we can to find who did this." Gippal said. He kept his hand on my shoulder as we walked away. We walked along the Moonflow, until we got to the shoopuf, in silence. We didn't talk until we were on our way across the Moonflow.

"What was that about?" I asked

"Simple Dravidian was following us, to find out how much we know. I didn't want to say anything until I was sure we were out of earshot." he replied

"And how do you know he was following us?" I asked

"Well we weren't there for very long and a few minuets later Dravidian shows up and silences his mother before she can tell us who she thinks did this."

"Your right we'll tell Baralai, when we get to Bevelle.

The rest of out journey was peaceful with the occasional race here or there. We raced each other in the Thunder plains ( he didn't believe that I was over my fear of lightning, so I lightly pushed him, but he fell in the mud, I took off running with him chasing right behind me.), I almost fell in the mud But Gippal caught me. We got to the Macalania woods and I changed back into my thief dress sphere as we came to the entrance to bevelle. We saw Baralai at the other end of the Highroad. He met us halfway and we walked with him the rest of the way. I saw him glance at the ring on my finger and then at me with a curious look. I smiled at him but also gave him a look that said 'don't say anything rigth now.' he nodded his head in understanding. When we got inside Bevelle, Baralai lead us to the city portion of Bevelle. It was huge. Everywhere you looked there were buildings and people, and hovers, and lifts. I had never seen anything like this before in my entire life.

"Wow, it's huge." I said in awe

"Yes, it's even bigger than Luca." Baralai responded proudly

"So where is everyone?" I asked

"There in the hotel. That's where I'm taking you guys. I don't mean to be rude, but do you guys think you keep your heads slightly down. I don't want people to recognize your eyes. The people don't exactly welcome the Al Bhed yet. I'm really sorry." he replied

"That's alright." Gippal said

the rest of the way to the hotel took only about five minuets. Once we were inside we were allowed to look up again. The inside of te hotel was huge. Everything was upholstered in red. Even the carpets were red. On one wall there was a mural to the Bevelle guardian, that I helped defeat about two years ago.

"Follow me." Baralai said. He lead us up a couple flight of stairs, and into a room, where the rest of our friends were.

We walked into the room and saw that everyone of our friends were there. Lulu, Wakka and Vidina were there, along with Kimahri and Tidus. Baralai and Paine were there and so was Nooj and Leblanc with Logos ad Ormi. Everyone who helped us defeat Sin and Vegnagun were here, with the exception of Auron of course. As soon as we walked in the room I hid my hand behind my back before anyone could see the ring. Of course Yuna saw me do it.

"Rikku? What are you hiding behind your back." she asked curiously

"Nothing." I answered quickly.

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Rikku!"

"Yuna"

"Oh come on, what are you hiding."

"Nothing!" I took the ring off my finger and Gippal took it and hid it in his pocket. You see we decided to keep it a secret as long as possibly, because everyone would want to help plan the wedding, and we still have to figure out who's going to be the best man, and maid of honor. Once we figured that out then we would tell them. Unfortunately leblanc saw him take the ring.

"Rikku, was that a ring you handed to Gippal in secret?" she asked

I knew Leblanc was evil. I thought to my self. I sighed in defeat knowing that it was to late to hid it now. Gippal handed me the ring and I put it on my finger again. It actually feels weird without it on my finger. I held out my hand for yuna to see. Just like I thought she squealed really loud and grabbed my hand for a better look. I sighed and glared at Leblanc. She just smirked at me.

"Oh my Faith, you didn't tell me about this over the comm sphere." she complained

"Gee I wonder why."

She glared at me. "Can I be your maid of honor?" she asked

"That's why we weren't going to say anything right away, because we still have to figure out who is going to be the best man, and our maid of honor, when we figure it out we were going to tell you." I said

"Oh sorry." she said

"That's alright, but next time Yuna, when I say 'nothing' leave it at that."

She grinned sheepishly. Well I'm really happy for you. I can't think of anyone more deserving than you." she said

"Thank you Yuna." I sad

I saw her glance at my ring one more time, but with a look of longing on her face

"Tuh'd funno Yuna, Frah dra desa ec neckrd, ra'mm ycg oui. (Don't worry Yuna, when the time is right he'll ask you) I whispered in Al Bhed so only she could hear me.

She looked up at me and I gave her a reassuring smile.

"Right, so mind telling us what we have to do?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

So after a few minuets we had our assignments, and we were off to Luca. We got to Luca in about five minuets, complements of Bevelle.

A/N: sorry that took so long. I know it was kinda short, but I wanted at least post something, before I started losing reviewers. I might be a while before I update again. I have to still write the chapter and stuff, so please review.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: hey guys. Sorry it took so long. I've had so much school work and this is a rare moment for me to actually have time to type. Finals are about 5 weeks away, each week I'm learning a new topic in Italian, and I'm being swamped with tests. So I don't know how good this chapter is. But please bare with me. Thanks

Chap10. Yuna's speech and a surprise

We arrived at Luca about five minutes later, and stood in the stadium on the platform (where Yuna gave her speech in ffx). Yuna was standing in the middle towards the front, Tidus was on her right and I was on her left. I had changed outfits before we got there, I had on the pink shirt and green shorts I wore during the time of Sin and Yuna wore her summoner outfit. Lulu and Wakka were next to me with Vidina, and Kimahari stood next to Tidus. Everyone else stood farther back for the time being. We stood in silence until everyone quieted down.

"Long ago when I had first realized that my father died fighting Sin, I knew that I wanted to be a summoner just like him. When I was seventeen I did just that. I started my journey with only three guardians, Lulu, Wakka, and a Ronso named Kimahari." Yuna started indicating everyone as she said their names. "Then this man standing next to me mysteriously appeared claiming that he came from Zanarkand. Which indeed happened. Sin had transported him through time. He didn't become my guardian for a while yet, but he traveled with us. He helped fight our enemies, he stayed with me, and helped me any way he could, even though he didn't know our customs. Eventually he did become my guardian, along with an Al bhed named Rikku. The other summoners thought that I was insecure having so many guardians. But I wasn't done yet. At the same time Tidus became my guardian, the legendary guardian Auron became my guardian too. He's not with us because he was and unsent and is now in the farplane.

In the times of Sin, the Al Bhed were hated and even feared. They didn't follow Yevon's teachings, they used the forbidden Machina. But in reality the Al Bhed wanted Sin gone just as much as we did. They also lost friends and family, just like we did. My guardian, Rikku, lost her mother when she was only eight years old. The Al Bhed are not evil or even dangerous in the least. They helped to destroy Sin more than you know. Rikku's father and former leader of the Al Bhed helped us tremendously. He let us use his airship for rest and for transport. He helped us fight Sin. The airship had defensive weapons of its own. He fought Sin with us and took us close enough to destroy him.

Unfortunately with the destruction of Sin came the destruction of the Aeons. They sacrificed themselves for Spira. The fayth died to help us. Which meant that Tidus would disappear."

At this point I saw Tidus take her hand to comfort and reassure her.

"Tidus was a dream of the fayth. The Zanarkand that he knew was also a dream created by the fayth after the Great Machina War a thousand years a go. Tidus disappeared and with that and the destruction of Sin came the Eternal Calm. After that things were calm. Spira was slowly rebuilding itself. Now two new leaders were arising. The Youth League and New Yevon.

At this point Baralai and Nooj stepped forward and stood next to the rest of us.

"The Machina were being used more and the Machine Faction was set us."

When Yuna said this Gippal came and stood next to me.

"On Besaid things were equally quiet. Lulu and Wakka had settled down an got married and even had a child, and me I was depressed . It wasn't until Rikku showed up with a sphere containing images of who I thought was Tidus. It wasn't him, but it was enough to make me join the Gullwings, a sphere hunting group. The members were myself, Rikku, our new friend Paine, Rikku's brother, Brothers friend Buddy and a young Al Bhed boy named Shinra..

That's how we meet Leblanc and her crew Logos and Ormi. They were sphere hunters too. They were called the Leblanc syndicate. They also helped us to defeat Vegnagun."

At this point Paine, Leblanc, Logos and Ormi stepped forward with Paine stepping next to Baralai.

"We found many spheres and found out that there was an unsent form the great Machina War that was trying to destroy Spira. His name was Shuyin. His lover Lenne had been a summoner and was fated to fight in that War. He desperately tried to save her by using Bevelle's

secret weapon, Vegnagun. He was caught and imprisoned, but somehow escaped. He went after Vegnagun again, he almost had it working but Lenne showed up and stopped him. He came down from Vegnagun and embraced her, that was when the guards found them and shot and killed them. Shuyin came back as an unsent and tried to destroy Spira with the same Machina as last time, Vegnagun. He wanted to destroy Spire because of all of the fighting that was still going on. We ended up defeating him to and reuniting him with Lenne."

"Now things are quiet again. The Bevelle Fayth brought back Tidus, and he's real, he's no longer a dream and he's here for good. Everyone has found their place, things are settling down. The two new leaders have finally come to an agreement, Lulu and Wakka are settled down with their child, Rikku and Gippal are engaged, and Tidus and I are content the way we are. But unfortunately the peace doesn't seem to last. Someone is trying to kill all of the Al Bhed." Yuna finished. She backed up and motioned for me to say something.

'This wasn't part of the plan.' I thought. 'Go on' she mouthed to me. I took Gippal's hand and made him come up with me.

"Just say what you've been telling me, about how it isn't fair." He whispered in my ear.

"All we want is to live in peace with the people of Spira. That's all we ever wanted. We wanted Sin gone also. I lost my mother and my aunt because of him. Then things finally started calming down just as Yuna said. But then there was the threat of Vegnagun, that not many people knew about, and now there's someone after all of the Al Bheds. Why? That's all we want to know, we've done nothing wrong. The only thing we didn't do was follow false teachings, and now my father's in critical condition because someone attacked him for no reason. Please if you can help us. We're not evil or even mean in the least. We're not bad people. So please if you can, help us." I finished. My eyes had started tearing up, and I quickly wiped the tears away. I stepped back and let Yuna take the stage again.

"People of Spira, wether or not your opinion of the Al bhed has changed or not I'm going to help them. The Al bhed are my friends, and have helped me in te past, so I intent to return the favor and help them. They have helped our world more than you know. So remember we all have friends in all different races that wouldn't hesitate to help us, so we shouldn't hesitate to help them. So people of Spira, tell me. Would it really be that hard to help those that need our help?" Yuna finished. By the end of her speech everyone was standing up front.

As we were about to turn around and leave. Tidus stepped up to the mike. I looked up at Yuna confused, but she looked just as confused as I was.

"Um... I just have a few things to say, Yuna if that's alright?" he asked her

"Of course." she replied

"People of Spira. What Yuna says is true. The Al Bhed are great people. When Sin transported me here about two years ago. I didn't know where I was. I was in a foreign world. The Al Bhed found me, and gave me food and brought me to their ship. They saved me. Actually it was Rikku here, who found me. Even though there are no more teachings, I'm still not familiar with the customs here. But I do know that the Al Bhed aren't evil. I also know that I love Yuna and would do anything for her, I'll support her in anything that she does. Hey.. um.. Yuna can you come here for a minuet?" he asked her

I saw tears in Yuna's eyes, as she walked past me to stand next to Tidus. He took her hand in his and got down on one knee. I saw her eyes widen in shock.

"Yuna... Will you marry me?" he asked as he took a velvet box out of his pocket.

She stood there shocked for a few seconds. "Yes, Yes I will marry you." she said happily.

He took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. Then he got up and kissed her. The whole crowed cheered at the happy couple.

"Thank you people of Spira for listening to us, and we all hope that you will help the Al Bhed." Tidus said as he and Yuan walked off stage, we followed behind them. I caught up with Yuna.

"Ok Yuna, let me see the ring." I said

She laughed at me as she held out her hand. I stared wide eyed in shock. It had to easily been worth more then my ring and Paine's put together. Paine's ring was a silver band with two ruby's surrounding a diamond, and my engagement ring was studded with diamonds surrounding a emerald. But Yuna's ring was a silver band studded with diamonds with two sapphires and two emeralds surrounding diamond.

"Damn Yuna. That's a nice ring." I said

"Thanks Rikku." she said

"The ring is nice, but to me my ring is more then just a ring. It's a promise, and it's I apart of my hand I will never take it off or lose it. And if it do loose it, I will never forgive myself." I said

Then Gippal surprised me by turning me to face him, and kissing me. The kiss was full of love, passion and longing. It was like nothing I have ever felt before, and I'm glad it's gippal I'm experiencing this with, and no one else.

"I love you so much Rikku." he whispered into my ear.

"I love you too Gippal." I whispered back

A/N: This took me longer to update then I had thought it would. I am so sorry. I hope you all liked it. I'm sorry if the ending sucked, but I wanted to post something, because I don't know when I can update again,. I already have the next chapter written, it's just that I got my first job and I've been really busy, and my finals are like in a week, so I've been studying for those also. Anyway you know what to do, just hit that little button and review this chapter. :)


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I'm am sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been really busy and my computer wasn't working for a while. I so hope I haven't lost any reviewers because of this. Well, thanks to all who reviews my last chapter, and no let's get on with the chapter.

Chap11.

We all walked to dock 4 where the airship was waiting.

"Rikku, do you and Gippal need a ride to Bikanel? Baralai asked.

"Yea, do you mind?" I asked

"No, we don't mind at all. Where would you us to drop you off?"

"At the oasis is fine." I replied

"Sure."

So within five minuets we arrived at the oasis and said goodbye. We waited until the airship left and was out of site before we turned to each other, with a slightly awkward silence.

"So, uh... this is where it all started." he said

"And, ended." I reminded him

"Yea, but that's all in the past now." he said pulling me closer to him and hugging me.

"Yea." I said

We stood there for a few minuets with a light breeze blowing the sand around our feet. I brought my head away from his chest slightly and looked up, studying his face, his jawbone, his eyes, his nose, his lips, just everything about him. He looked down and saw me looking at him.

"What?" he asked lightly

"Nothing." I replied as he leaned his head closer to mine.

I closed the gap and kissed him. After a few minuets I slowly puled away. " I love you." I said softly.

" I love you too." he said

"Well I guess we should get going." I said

The location of the new Home/Hospital is the same place the original Home was. It was very windy and the wind was blowing the sand everywhere. But being an Al Bhed has it's advantages. We were used to these kind of situations, that and the fact that Gippal and I still had our Al Bhed Goggles with us.

Because of the wind it took us at least a half an hour to get there. The front door opened if you stated your name and your 'title' which was basically your profession.

"Hysa bmayca" (name please)

"Myto Rikku, pyikrdan uv vunsan maytan Cid" (lady Rikku, daughter of the former leader Cid)

"Hysa aqlabdat, haqd bancuh bmayca" The mechanic voice said (Name excepted, next person please)

"Gippal, maytan uv dra vunsan Machina vyldeuha" (Gippal, leader of the former machine faction)

"Famlusa Myto Rikku yht Gippal. Bmayca ahzuo ouin csyo." (Welcome Lady rikku, and Gippal. Please enjoy your stay.) It said as the door opened

we stepped inside and was surprised to see how homey it looked. The old Home was all Machina and looked cold and uninviting. But this new Home, the exact opposite. It was warm and inviting. It still had a lot of Machina, But it wasn't everywhere you looked. The machina was hidden behind walls that were painted white with Al Bhed writing telling you which way to go, to go to the hospital, the cafeteria, the bedrooms, or other places. We took the left hallway which lead to the Hospital. We arrived at the front desk and I asked which room my father was in.

"He's in room 203, which is just straight down the hall." She said pointing to her left.

When we got to the room, we quietly opened the door and stepped in. My father was siting up in bed watching T.V. . It seemed that he had been watching Yunie's speech.

"Remmo, Vydran." (Hello father)

He turned his head to men and I winced a little. He had two black eyes, a swollen lip, several stitches on his face, head and arms, and several bruises in different stages of healing all over his body.

He smiled weakly and said "hi"

Gippal and I sat on the two chairs next to his bed.

"How do you feel?" I asked

"As well as can be expected." he responded weakly.

"Rin told us you were attacked. Do you know by who?" I asked

"No. But I think it was a machina, but I'm not sure. It attacked me from behind. Everything happened so fast."

"Well we're going to stay here at Home Until you get better. Ok?" I said

he smiled. "Thank you." he said. 'Well rikku, let me see the ring." he asked with a smile.

"How did you..." I stared, but then realized that a) Gippal asked for my fathers permission first and told him when he was planning on asking me, and b) if he was watching Yuna's speech he would've found out because she mentioned the fact that we were engaged. I held out my hand and let my father see the ring.

"Wow, that's a very nice ring. I'm happy for the both of you, and... I'm sorry I gave you guys a hard time. It's just that you and your brother are all I have left of your mother, and now my baby girl's all grown up and ready to start her own life. I'm scared." he laughed lightly. 'It makes me feel so old. You look so much like your mother , and you know that Brother's never Going to settle down, so you're my only chance for grandkids. But keep in mind, if you two decide to have kids, at least wait until your both ready and absolutely sure you want kids. Having kids is a big responsibility." he said

I blushed at the thought.

"Rikku, in the top drawer of the dresser you're sitting next to is a green velvet box, that's your birthday gift." he said

I opened the drawer, and took out the box. I opened it and gasped.

"Bu.. But, but these were mothers earings." I said as I stared at the diamond and emerald earings. The earings were the dangly kind. The front was a silver chain (not link a chain link but like a necklace chain) with a pear shaped diamond and the end, and the backing was also dangly and had a silver chain with a pear shaped emerald.

'Yes they were. I gave them to her on our first anniversary, and now they're yours. Just promise me that you'll wear the set, the earings and te necklace, at your wedding."

"I will vydran. Thank you."

"Well Sir, we should probably let you get some rest now." gippal said

"Please your going to be family soon, call me Cid." he replied

'Ok Cid." gippal said smiling.

So we got up, and got ready to leave, I leaned over and gave my father a light kiss on the forehead.

"I love you dad." I said quietly

" I love you too Rikku.

(A month later)

It's been a month since Yuna's speech and since we came here, and everyday more and more Al bhed are coming in fatally injured form all of the attacks. Only a few have actually died though. My father's still in the hospital, but the doctors say he can be released in a couple of days. I'm thinking of stopping by the hospital both to visit my dad and because I don't feel well. I've been getting sick lately. But Gippal doesn't know.

It's about Mid evening right now. Gippal and I just came form th hospital. Father is doing well, they took out his stitches to day. They want to keep him for another day to monitor his progress. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to talk to the doctors about why I was feeling bad lately.

Right now Gippal and I are walking down to the cafeteria. Whatever the chefs were making it smelt good. But I felt a little nauseous. When they brought out the food, I breathed in deeply and instantly regretted it. A huge wave of nausea came over me. I got up and ran to the closest bathroom.

(Gippal's pov)

As soon as Rikku got up and started running I got up and followed her. She ran into the bathroom and locked herself in a stall. I followed here in and heard her throwing up. I knocked on the stall door.

"Rikku. Are you alright?" I asked

She didn't immediately respond, she just threw up a little. After a few minuet she finally stopped. I heard her wipe her mouth with toilet paper, flush, and then finally unlock the door.

I asked her again "are you alright? What's wrong?"

I've been feeling nauseous for about a month now, and at the smell of the food, I lost it." she admitted silently.

"Rikku, why didn't you tell me sooner?" I asked her gently.

"I didn't think much of it." she said

"Well I'm taking you to the doctor." I stated I picked her u and carried her to the Hospital wing.

"I'm sorry Gippal." she said quietly

"Shh, it's ok Rikku, I'm sure nothing is seriously wrong, a cold maybe." I said trying reassure her, and myself a little bit.

'This is the first time I've seen her this emotionally and physically drained.' Thought to myself as I realized for the first time how fragile she can be. She holds in her emotions so well that any person who didn't know her would swear that she was ok. But these past few months, I've noticed her start to open up more. The more I learn about her, the more I love her. But I'm mad at myself for not have realizing that she wasn't feeling good.

We arrived at the hospital wing a few minuets later. I put her down and steaded her by the waist.

The doctor was at the front desk talking to the nurse. When turned around he seemed shocked to see us again.

"Rikku, Gippal , I wasn't expecting to see you both until tomorrow." he replied

"I know but Rikku, hasn't been feeling good lately. Can you tel us why?" I asked

"Of course I can. Gippal if you could just wait out here, Rikku can you come with me. I'll have the answer in a few minuets." he replied

"Sure." I said letting go of Rikku's waist.

I sat there in the waiting room, wondering what could be wrong with Rikku. About five minuets later Rikku and the doctor walked back into the waiting room. She had an expression I couldn't read.

"Is she going to be ok? What's wrong?" I asked

"She's going to be just fine, and she wants to tell you what's is wrong." he replied

(Rikku's pov)

'Thank you doctor." I said a I rejoined Gippal on the waiting room. "Just don't tell my father. I'll tell him." I asked

"Sure."

"Come with me Gippal." I said as I took his hand in mine and lead him out the door.

"Rikku what's wrong?" he kept asking as I lead him to the oasis.

By this time the sun had just started to set. Both the sky and the lake had an orangy glow. I just stood there for a few minuets surveying the land, and feeling the wind blow all around me. I was so nervous. I tried to compose myself as I turned to Gippal.

"Rikku?" he asked

I took Gippal's hand in mine and just held it for a few minuets.

"It's so beautiful, isn't it. The sunset. The way the sky and the lake glow." I said

Gippal placed a gloved hand on the side of my face for a few minuets.

"Rikku, please tell me what's wrong." he said with obvious concern in his voice and hi eyes.

I sighed trying once more to compose myself. I took Gippals hand and placed it on my stomach.

"Gippal, I ... I'm pregnant"

A/N: well what did you think. And again sorry it took me so long to update. I hope I haven't lost any reviers because of it. Well anyway. Please review.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Apparently I did lose reviewers I only got two reviews, but I'm gonna continue to update for those two reviewers. So thanks so much kingleby and for your reviews. They meant a lot. Well here's the next chapter.

Chap12

He just stared at me with a look I couldn't decipher.

"Gippal... did you hear me?" I asked

He slowly nodded his head yes.

"Gippal, please... say something." I said with a hint of desperation in my voice. The longer he delayed in answering me the more pain I felt. My heart was feeling like it was being torn apart.

"I don't... I don't know what to say Rikku." He said honestly with a look of uncertainty in his eyes

I looked down at the sand. I dropped Gippal's hand as I felt tears well up in my eyes. I turned away from Gippal and ran back to Home, my tears distorting my vision.

"Hysa bmayca" (name please)

"Myto Rikku, pyikrdan uv vunsan maytan Cid" (lady Rikku, daughter of the former leader Cid)

"Hysa aqlabdat." (Name accepted) it said as it opened the door. As soon as I entered, the door slammed shut behind me.

That's when I lost it. I started crying hysterically as I ran to our room. Everything was a blur as I ran blindly to our room, the people, the white walls, with the Al Bhed writing on it. Everything was just a big blur, as tears streamed freely down face. I ran in and locked the door behind me. I sat on the bed and pulled my knees up to my chest. At that point my mind went through all the worst possibilities.

'He doesn't want our child, he was disappointed, angry. This is all my fault.'

All these things kept running through my head as I cried.

'I wish mom was still here. She would know what to do. Damn you Sin, damn you Yu Yevon, damn everything that took my mom away from me. I can't talk to father because he would completely freak at me being pregnant, and then at Gippal for making me cry. I don't even seem to have Gippal to talk to now, not that I want to at this moment.' I thought to my self

"Rikku." Gippal said as he caught up to me. He was knocking on the door and calling my name.

"Go away!" I cried

"Rikku, please. We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about." I shouted harshly.

"Rikku, please. I think that there's been a misunderstanding. Please Rikku, listen to me." He desperately pleaded.

"Go on then." I said coldly.

"Can you open the door...please?" he said still desperately.

I got off the bed, unlocked the door, and turned on my heel as I headed to the bed and sat down with my arms crossed and a cold glare fixed on my face. If the glare had an effect on him, he didn't show it. Instead he had a pained look on his face.

"Rikku." He said quietly. "I'm not upset about the baby. I'm elated."

My sharp cold glare lessened.

"Really?" I asked in a quiet voice. At that moment I felt so small, so weak as I waited to hear his conformation of his words.

He knelt down and took my hands in his.

"Of course Rikku. I'm going to be a father and nothing could make me happier than you being the mother of my child. It's just that I'm shocked and worried. I mean that was the last thing I thought was wrong with you. But I'm worried because as the months go by you and our baby will be more vulnerable, especially with that Al Bhed killer still out there." He told me.

I fell on my knees in front of him and threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly, crying from relief. He hugged me back just as tightly.

"Don't ever do that to me again. You scared me so much." I said "I thought you didn't want out child."

"Oh Spira." He breathed. "Rikku, please, never think that. I want nothing more than to start a family with you. It just happened sooner than I expected." He said

"I love you so much Gippal." I said

"I love you too Rikku, and I extremely happy about the baby." He replied

We just sat there holding each other. Me, I was thrilled that Gippal wanted this baby. It felt as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

"Rikku, if I ever seem distant or angry please know that it's not because of you. I'm just a little stressed over the destruction of the Machine Faction. I mean all of my friends are gone. All the hard work I put into the faction is gone. But there's also something else that's bothering me. If it's the Al Bhed that are being killed then, then why is Spira starting to hate us again?" he said

" I don't know Gippal. We'll have to go and investigate Djose temple and talk to Baralai. I'm sure he'll know what the reason is, or at least help us." I replied

"Yes I guess so... well on a lighter note, should we go tell you father the good news?" he asked

"Umm.. Do you think that's a good idea? I don't know how he's going to react." I replied warily.

"Oh come on Rikku. I'm sure he won't get mad." Gippal said

"I hope you're right." I muttered "Fine. But let's tell him in the morning, it's kinda late now."

"All right." He said

We climbed into bed, but instead of me pressing my back against his chest like always, I turned on my side and cuddled against his chest instead. That's how we fell asleep, with my head resting under his chin.

When I woke up, Gippal was still asleep, or so I thought. I got up and made it as far as putting my feet on the floor when he grabbed my waist and pulled me back, causing me to fall on top of him.

"Hey!" I complained

"Where are you going?" he asked groggily.

"To the bathroom. Is that ok?" I asked sarcastically.

"Are you ok?" he asked

"Yes, I just have to use the bathroom."

"Alright." He said, letting me up.

I rolled my eyes as I went into the bathroom, and I locked the door so he couldn't check on me. I loved the fact that Gippal wants this child and is worried about me, but if he's going to be _over_ protective then we're going to have to have a talk. I took a shower and brushed my teeth. When I walked out of the bathroom I was surprised to see Gippal up and dressed. He was never up this early.

"Gippal, are _you_ feeling ok?" I asked

"Yea. Why?" he responded

"Because your never out of bed this early." I responded

"Well I just thought that it would be better to tell your father as soon as possible." He said.

"Oh.. Right. Ok. Well the bathroom's all yours." I said

I had forgotten that today we were going to tell my dad that I was pregnant. I sighed as I started looking through my dress spheres. I decided to wear my songstress outfit as I realized that I needed new outfits.

Gippal came out of the bathroom a few minuets later.

"Well I guess we should get this over with." I said turning to the door.

But Gippal stopped me by putting his hand on my shoulder. "Rikku Wait." He said turning me to face him. "No matter what your father may say or do, just know that I love you and I want this child just as bad as you do."

"I know Gippal." I said hugging him.

He lifted my chin up with one finger, so I was looking at his one green eye. He brought his lips down to mine and kissed me. Now most people communicate through words, others such as singers, through their songs, poets, through their poetry, writers through their stories, and fighters through their fists. But Gippal and I, and I'm sure other couples as well, communicate through our kisses, and this kiss confirmed everything Gippal just said to me. I could tell just how much he loved me and more, like how much he wanted our child. But through this kiss I could also tell how worried he was about me and our baby, and about the person trying to kill the Al Bhed, and also his frustration over the faction's demise. As I kissed him back, I hoped he could feel my feelings also. I tried to convey my love for him and our baby, and reassure him that I'll be ok and so will this child. I also tried to convey my hope and confidence that we will catch this guy and avenge the faction. Doing this was easier than I expected it to be.

Somehow during the kiss and my thoughts running all over the place, my hands had managed to creep their way up his chest, up and around his neck and into his hair, and his arms snaked their way around my waist, pulling me closer to him, if that was even possible. We eventually pulled away slowly, but reluctantly. Too bad we both needed air. Otherwise who knows how long that kiss would've lasted. But our close proximity remained.

"Now we can go." He said lightly kissing my forehead.

I opened the door and we stepped out of our room. Gippal kept his hand around my waist the whole way there. As we were walking through the halls, we kept getting curious stares from the other Al Bhed. I noticed that all the Al Bhed women we passed had disappointed looks on their faces as they noticed his hand firmly on my waist. I smirked thinking 'that's right he's mine, so back off.'

When we got to the hospital section we walked to my fathers room and knocked on the door. The doctor opened it up and let us in.

He looked at me with a knowing smile as he said "Hello Rikku, Gippal. You're just in time to hear me give your father a clean bill of health and tell him he can leave whenever he likes."

"Thanks doctor." I said

"Well Cid, I'll just go and get the paperwork ready and then you can fill them out whenever you're ready to leave."

"Thanks doc." Cid said as the doctor turned and left the room.

"Hey dad. How do you feel?" I asked

"Better then I've felt in years."

"That's good." I said distractedly.

"Rikku. What's wrong? You seem distracted." He asked

"Nothing's wrong."I said quickly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, actually things are great." I paused. "Dad I'm pregnant." I said.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minuets.

"You're what?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm pregnant." I said again, but in a small voice hoping he won't get angry.

"Boy!" he said in a low tone. "I'm gonna kill you." He said with a slightly angry look in his eyes.

"What did I do?" Gippal asked backing away slightly.

"You got her pregnant, and she's only 18." He shouted.

"So what? I want this child vydran." I said "and if you kill him, not only will I never speak to you again, but my child won't have a father to grow up with.

"But.." He started

"No buts' dad. I had to grow up without mom. But at least I had 8 years with her. Can you really live with the guilt of knowing that you're the reason your grandchild has to grow up without a father?" I asked standing in front of Gippal and glaring at my father.

After a few minuets he looked down ashamedly. "No.. You're right. I'm sorry."

"Dad why are you so uptight?" I asked

"What... I'm not." But he stopped at the look I was giving him. He sighed. "Because I made some mistakes when I was your age, and I don't want you to do anything you might regret later on."

"Dad. Things have changed since then." I said

"Yea I know but now people starting to hate us, and now that you're pregnant you're going to be in a lot of danger." He said

"I know that dad, and so does Gippal. I know he won't let anything bad happen to me or this baby." I said as I grabbed Gippal's hands from behind me and entwined my fingers with his as he wrapped them around my waist form behind.

"Cid, I promise you that nothing's going to happen to Rikku, or the child she's carrying." Gippal said to my father.

"I'm holding you to that. If anything happens to her or this child you're a dead man walking."

"If anything happens to her or this child I'll kill myself." Gippal said seriously.

My father studied Gippal's face for a few minuets, probably to see if he was telling the truth or not. He nodded apparently pleased with his answer.

All of a sudden a wave of nausea washed over me. I got light headed and I wobbled a bit in place but Gippal held me steady.

"Rikku? Are you alright?" he asked me

"No." I said as I got out of his embrace and ran to the bathroom just in time.

'This is going to be the only thing I hate about being pregnant. Hopefully it won't last the whole nine months. But knowing my luck it probably will.' I thought to my self as I sat on the floor of the bathroom, and my head leaning over the toilet as another wave of nausea over took me.

(Gippal pov)

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair as Rikku ran to the bathroom. I hated to see her sick, and I felt a little bad knowing that it was kinda my fault she felt this way.

"Cid. How long do you think the morning sickness will last?" I asked him

"I don't know. Each pregnancy is different. When her mother was pregnant with Brother, it last until her second trimester. But when she was carrying Rikku it lasted the end of her first trimester."

I sighed again. "So there's no way of knowing is there?"

"No there isn't. I know it's hard to see a loved one sick like this, especially knowing that you caused it. But all you can do is just be there for her and comfort her as best as you can." Cid said as if he had read my thoughts.

Rikku came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. She looked better, but still slightly nauseous.

"Well dad, I'm glad to see that you're better and I wish we could stay longer but we've already taken to much time away from the investigation, we really need to find this person before someone is actually killed." she said "Oh, and dad please don't tell anyone that I'm pregnant yet. I don't want word to get out for as long as possibly. For safety reasons." I said

"Sure." he said in an understanding tone

As we were to leave the hospital. There was a commotion out side.

"Everyone clear the hallways, we have an emergency patient coming through." the nurses cried.

We saw the stretcher come speeding past te door, and to my surprise I recognized the person on it.

It was Dravidian.

A/N: well what do you think. Please review. :)


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: thanks to all my reviewers. Also in chapter 12 in my author note I said thanks to my two reviewers for chap eleven and for some reason only Kingleby names came up. I'm so sorry to Ranchdressing. I know I had typed your name, I have no idea why it didn't show up. But thank you so much for your review and I'm so sorry about that. Well anyway, here's the next chapter.

Chap13

''someone thoughts

(Rikku's pov)

Gippal and I stood motionless by the door, stunned to see Dravidian on that stretcher. My father on the other had looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Dad? Are you ok? You look like you saw a ghost." I asked

"Wha..? Oh yea I'm fine. It's nothing really." He said with what he thought was a convincing smile.

But I knew better. My father was hiding something, but I decided not to bring it up. If he didn't want to tell me fine. I turned to Gippal. "I suppose we should find Layla, and let her know what happened to Dravidian."

"Yea your right. We'll see if she's still at Djose. If not well then we'll have to look for her as we continue our investigation." He replied

"You... you know Layla?" My father asked

"We met her at Djose, before we came here." I replied

"Oh... ok."

"Why? How do you know her?" I asked my father suspiciously

"Dravidian and Layla lived at the old Home before I met your mother."

"Huh, well we gotta go vydran but we'll be in touch through the commsphere." I said

Just as we were about to leave, my brother came in. He looked like he wanted to kill Gippal.

"Brother what's wrong" I asked him

"What did you do to my sister?" He asked Gippal angrily

"What are you talking about?" Gippal asked confused

"I came to visit father, and the doctor tells me, congratulations, you must be very happy. I asked him happy about what. He says about becoming an uncle."

I sighed. "Yes Brother I'm pregnant."

"But you're only 18. You're too young."

"Who are you to police my life?" I shouted at him

"I am your brother." He said matter-of-factly.

"Exactly. You're just my brother. You can't tell me what to do. Dad's fine with it. So get over yourself. I love Gippal and this child. I don't care how much you may hate him you can't tell me what I can or can't do and weather or not I'm old enough." I shouted.

I turned away from him before he could argue back. "Well dad sorry we can't stay longer but we must go. If we're going to catch the ship to Luca we had batter go." I said

"Why don't you take the airship? My father asked

"Because he's the _captain_." I replied harshly "and I don't feel like traveling with him right now." I gave my father a hug and walked out ignoring my brother.

Once we were in the foyer of home Gippal stopped me with a quizzical look on his face. "Why does your brother hate me?" He asked

"He still can't get over the fact that you broke up with me, and he's afraid that you'll do it again." I replied

"Were you really that upset when I broke up with you?" Gippal asked me

"Well...Yea. I was 15. I was in love you with, and I couldn't figure out why you did that. I was devastated. But then when I got older I realized that you did it to protect me, and not to hurt me." I said quietly.

"I'm sorry Rikku." He said gently pulling me to him in a hug.

"It's ok Gippal. Like I said, I know you didn't mean to hurt me." I said hugging him back.

We pulled apart and he kissed me lightly on top of my forehead. "Well.. Shall we go."

"Yes we shall." I said laughing as he wrapped his arm around my waist. Even now, when I feel his hand on my bare skin I still get shivers up and down my spine. I loved the way he makes me feel, and I hoped with all my being that this time, we would last forever.

Thankfully there were no sand storms today and we made it to the docks within an hour. (For my story Bikanel Island has docks. I mean when you think about it they would have to, other wise how are the employees going to get to the island to dig) We got there with a half an hour to spare.

"Hey Rikku. Can I.. Uh I don't know play with your hair?" Gippal asked

I giggled to myself, at how embarrassed Gippal sounded. "Sure" I said

So for the next half an hour I sat in front of Gippal, with my back against his chest and his legs on either side of me. It took him like 15 minutes to even undo all of the braids and beads I had in my hair.

"Hey Gippal, can I borrow your comm sphere for a minute?" I asked

"Sure. Who do you need to call?" He asked as he took it out of his pocket and handed it to me.

"I figured we should call Baralai to let him know we are on our way." I replied

"That makes sense."

It only took a few minutes for it to connect and Baralai picked up almost immediately.

"Hello Baralai!" I said cheerfully

"Hello Rikku, Gippal." He said.

"We wondering if we could stop by and have a chat. There are things we need to discuss with you." I responded.

"Yes of course. I was just about to call and ask the same thing." He said

"Alright we'll be there in a few minutes. The boat just arrived." I said

"Alright see you soon." he said disconnecting

We bordered the boat and sat at the top deck, and within maybe 15 to 20 minutes we arrived at Bevelle harbor. To our surprise there was someone waiting for us.

"Are you The Lady Rikku and Gippal?" The person asked slightly contemptuously.

"Yes we are." I said holding my head up high, refusing to let this persons attitude affect my me.

"Praetor Baralai, sent me to _escort_ you to Bevelle temple where he would be waiting for you in his study, with the Lady Paine." He said, annoyed.

It was a no-brainier that he didn't like the Al Bhed on bit and was only doing this to keep his job.

We walked the rest of the way in an uncomfortable silence. As we walked I tried to hastily put my hair back up, but to no avail. I felt Gippal lightly squeeze my shoulder in an effect to calm me down because I was getting frustrated at my hair and mostly because this mans attitude was driving me nuts. I mean what must we do to prove our selves. This mans negative attitude was pouring over me in waves, and that did not help my growing dislike of this man. Gippal's action worked. I was the daughter of our leader Cid. I've even been called the Al Bhed princess. 'Though I find that to be a little extreme'. There was no reason to be fidgety, or to let this persons attitude effect me. I represent our people. With that thought in mind I stood up straighter and held my head high, proud to be an Al Bhed. Gippal must've sensed this change in my attitude because he slid his hand down to my waist in support, rather than on my shoulder for comfort.

We arrived at Baralai's study in a few minutes . The guard knocked on the door and Baralai answered opened the door.

"The lady Rikku and Gippal are here." He aid with a very slight hint of annoyance

"Thank you, you are dismissed." Baralai said as he let Gippal and I into the room.

"Hiya Paine." I said as I walked in

Paine was leaning against Baralai's desk with her arms crossed across her chest. "Hello Rikku." She responded.

"Please, have a seat." Baralai said indicating the two chairs in front of his desk. Paine moved around the desk to sit in one of the two chairs behind it.

"Well since the two of you contacted us first, you can start." Baralai said

"Well there's just one thing that's been troubling me." Gippal said. "If it's the Al Bhed that are being killed then why is the rest if Spira starting to hate us again?"

"Good question. Now I have a question for you. Do you recognize this symbol?" He asked sliding a piece of paper toward us. The paper had a picture of the shape of a diamond with a drawing of an Al Bhed eye directly in the center.

I nodded my head yes. "That's the Al Bhed insignia, everyone wears them on our work clothes, to symbolize our loyalty to our leader, Cid, who is also my father. Why? " I said adding the last part sheepishly.

Baralai sighed. "Well lately there have been a string of attacks at seemingly random places, but when we talked to the victims families we found out that all of them were severe Al Bhed haters." Baralai said

"And let me guess, word leaked out into the public that Al Bhed haters were being killed, but that doesn't explain why Spira is starting to hate us gain." I said

At this point Paine took over the conversation. "Normally it wouldn't, but that symbol was found on the remains of the bombs and other explosives that were used to destroy he building and people." She said

It all made sense. Someone's been planted bombs and other explosives with our mark on them, and the people who've been working at the dig sites probably recognize that symbol for the Al Bhed's work clothes. So now people think we're killing all Al Bhed haters. But one thing didn't fit.

"But if we were only killing Al Bhed haters then why would be killing our own people?" I asked

"We said that in a press conference we held recently. But they don't care. Someone even shouted that you were doing it to keep the suspicion off you backs." Baralai said.

"WHAT!" I shouted in outrage. "That's ridiculous." I stood up so fast that I almost fell over when a wave of nausea came over me. But I swallowed the feeling as I steaded my self. "Paine." I asked "Can you show me where the bathroom is."

"Now? But Rikku we're in the middle of..."

"Paine please." I interrupted

She must've seen the look of urgency in my eyes because she nodded her head yes and stood up leading me to the door, and toward the bathroom.

"Rikku?" Gippal asked

"I'll be fine please, continue the discussion." I said following Paine out the door. We didn't say anything on the way there. The bathroom was just down the hall and when we got to it I burst open the door, ran to the nearest stall, locked myself in just as the contents of my stomach hit the toilet. I sat there for a few minutes as my stomach continued to empty itself. After about five minutes I got up, after I was sure my stomach had completely emptied itself. I unlocked the door and stepped out to see Paine leaning against the wall with a concerned look on her face.

"Rikku?" She asked. "Are you alright?"

I looked at her deciding weather or not to tell her. I sighed and gave her a weak smile. "Morning sickness, one of the joys of being pregnant."

A/N: I am so sorry I took so long to update. I just started my sophomore year of high school an I'm in 3 out of 4 honor core classes. That and I haven't had much time to update please forgive. :( Also I just found out that have a lot more hits on this story than I thought. So please, whoever is reading this REVIEW. I don't care what you say. Just say something. Please.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Ok. I have a question for all of you lovely readers. What would you like me to do? Would you rather I postpone the rest of the story until I finish it, or wait the long distance in between chapters? Please let me know. Now on to the next chapter. Oh also I changed my pen name to kairiyuna15 because well I'm now 15, and have been since April but I thought it would be cool to change it every year when I turn a year older. Just so you all know.

Chap14.

"You're what?" Paine asked.

"I'm pregnant." I said walking over to the sink and cupping my hand under the running water to rinse my mouth out.

"How far along are you?"

"I'm going on my second month tomorrow." I replied.

"Does Gippal know?"

"Yea, him, pops, Brother, though he was very pissed and looked like he wanted to kill Gippal, you and the doctor, who confirmed it, are the only ones who know. We don't too many people to know, about it though. You may tell Baralai, and I guess we should tell Yuna and Tidus, but that's all we'll tell until I start showing."

Paine was silent for a moment. Then she smiled at me, she actually smiled, and I smiled back. "Hey, let's go to the kitchens, and get something to eat."

"But, the meeting . . . " I started.

"The guys can handle it without us."

"Sure, why not."

On our way to the kitchens we bumped into one of the many priests still residing here.

"Good afternoon Lady Paine, and guest." He said, saying the last part somewhat venomously.

Paine definitely caught his tone of voice. "Hey, when you address a guest you will do it politely. Do I make my self clear?" She said or rather should I say snapped at the priest.

"Yes ma'am, I am truly sorry." He said, facing me and bowing, though he still glared at me. "Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked Paine.

"Yes there is. You can go inform Sir Baralai, and his guest that the ladies have gone down to the kitchens."

"As you wish." He said bowing again.

"I'm sorry Rikku." She began.

"Paine, it's ok. I lived fifteen years of my life like this, small things like that don't bother me too much anymore. Things have gotten better in the two years since Sin was defeated. Although, that guard that escorted us here could be spoken to. He annoyed me the most. He was so cold toward us." I said.

"I know, and we're sorry but he was the only guard we could spare. The rest are assisting the police and protecting potential targets for the bombings that have been happening lately."

"That's all right, in fact you didn't really have to do that, I mean I'm touched that you did and all."

"No we really did have to send someone to escort you, with all of the bombings it's not safe at all for any Al Bhed to wander the streets anymore."

"Has it really gotten that bad?"

"I'm afraid so."

I just merely sighed as we continued our journey to the kitchens. Before we knew it, we were there.

"So, onto a lighter subject. What do you think you can eat right now?" She asked me.

"I don't know, maybe crackers for now. Do you have any ginger ale? (I know probably not in their world)." I replied.

"I'm sure we do somewhere." She said, searching through all of the numerous cabinets in the kitchens. "Ah here we go." Paine said taking out the crackers along with some peanut butter. Paine then went to the fridge and took out some butter and ginger ale, while I got the cups, plates, knives and napkins.

We sat down at one of the counter tops and started munching on crackers with peanut butter and some with butter, sipping the ginger ale.

"So how's married life?" I asked.

"Not to bad. Baralai's a great guy. No matter how much work he may have, he always makes time for us. Whether it be dinner or trips to the sphere theater, or even just alone time. He always finds time to spend with me, and it he's to busy, he includes me in whatever he's doing." She responded.

"Awww that's so sweet. So any children in the near future?" I teased.

She laughed "No, not yet we prefer to wait a while on that."

I just stuck my tongue out at her.

"So what about you? How has Gippal taken to you being pregnant?"

"Pretty well actually. Though he won't admit it to me, I know that he feels bad whenever I get sick. I think he partially blames himself. That and he's a little over protective, but otherwise not to bad. But we still want this baby more than ever, and we're going to finish this investigation together." I replied.

We were both quiet for a few minutes, both of us reflecting on how much our lives have changed since the defeat of Sin and Vegnagun.

"It's weird, ya know. I never thought I could ever be this happy. I have a great fiancee who loves me and our baby very much. I never thought I would get to see a time when my people weren't hated. I'm glad that I have, but now sigh now though, we're being hated and accused for a crime we haven't committed." I said.

"I can only imagine what it must be like, but I can assure you that your friends will always be here for you, Baralai and I included, no matter where we may be years form now, we will always be there." Paine told me.

"Thanks Paine." I said with a smile.

All of a sudden there was a loud explosion, the room shook, and the lights went out. When the room shook, I fell off my chair and landed on my butt.

"Owie." I moaned.

"Rikku, are you all right?" Paine asked form the other side of the counter.

"Yea, I just landed hard on my butt." I said blinking back the tears that sprang into my eyes form the initial impact of my butt making an acquaintance with the floor.

A few minutes later the guys came running in.

"PAINE!" Baralai shouted through the dark.

"RIKKU!" Gippal shouted at the same time as Baralai.

"I'm over here." Paine said, as Baralai followed her voice.

"And I'm down here." I said, still on the floor.

Paine changed into her Alchemist dress sphere. "Everyone shield your eyes for a minute." She said, throwing a flash bomb up into the air to light the room.

With the little light that still lingered from the bomb Gippal found me still on the floor. When he found me, he bent down to my level.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yea, I just fell on my butt. Hard." I replied.

Gippal stood up and then took my hands in his and pulled me up to my feet.

"What happened?" I asked Baralai.

"We don't know. Why don't we go and see?"

So we all walked to the bottom floor of Bevelle, me of course walking a little weird due to the fact that my butt was still a little sore. But anyway when we got there we were very disturbed by what we saw. What we saw was the racist guard, practically blown to pieces. I quickly swallowed a wave of nausea.

His arms and legs were almost completely severed, his eyes were open and bloodshot, and there was blood every ware. He had gashes all over his body. His eyes were wide in shock and pain and his mouth was open also.

I turned around and buried my head in Gippal's chest as he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist.

"What the . . . " Was all Gippal or Baralai could say, and Paine went noticeably pale and had a pain stricken face. Baralai also wrapped his arms around her.

Within seconds the Bevelle police had arrived. We were all taken to separate rooms and were asked to give statements. Gippal came close to fighting with then to stay with me.

"She just saw a dead body. She's in shock and you want to question her alone?" Gippal shouted.

"Sir, I understand your concern, but we'll make sure that she'll be ok." The police officer replied.

"Yea but she's . . . " Gippal started and then trailed off.

"She's what?" The officer asked curiously.

"Never mind. Look can I please just go in with her? I promise I'll keep my mouth shut." Gippal pleaded.

"Gippal, it's ok. I'll be fine." I told him.

"Yea but you're . . . " He said but I cut him off.

"I know Gippal."I said putting my hand on the side of his face. "I'll be fine."

He nodded his head as I walked off with the officer. He led me into one of the rooms and me to have a seat.

"I'm just going to ask you a few simple questions. All right?" He asked.

"Ok."

"Let's start with your name."

I hesitated for minute. "If I tell you my name can you promise that neither my name nor my fiancee's name will be release to the press or to anyone." I said.

"We'll do the best we can." He replied.

"Alright. My name is Rikku."

A look of recognition crossed his face. "_The _Lady Rikku? The one who helped to defeat Sin?"

I sighed. "Yes. Wait how do you know who I am? Hardy anyone except for my family and the Al Bhed race know that I helped Yuna to defeat Sin." I asked incredulously.

"I'm half Al Bhed my self. I just got lucky enough not to get the hair or the eyes so no one realized what I was." He replied.

"Then you know why I don't want our names to be leaked to the press." I said.

"Yes I understand. So can I ask you what you, the Lady Paine, Praetor Baralai, and Gippal were doing before and during the blast?"

"Wait a minute. I never mentioned Gippal's name." I said

"I recognized him form the Machine Faction."

"Right." I said a little suspiciously, but I continued anyway. "Paine and I were in the kitchens talking and catching up on current events because it's been awhile since we had the chance to talk. Baralai and Gippal were discussing important matters, in Baralai's study." I said "Paine and I were in the kitchens when we herd the blast and felt the building shake. The power went out and a few minutes later. Baralai and Gippal ran in to see if we were ok. Then we went downstairs to see what had happened. Then we saw . . . We saw." I couldn't finish. Images of the body came sharply into focus.

"Thank you Lady Rikku. We have all we need to know from you. You've been a great help." The officer said.

I nodded my head yes as he opened the door for me. Gippal was already waiting for me.

"Are you all right?" He asked as he noticed my slighted distracted look as I tried to clear my head of the images running through my mind.

I smiled at him, hiding the emotional turmoil I was feling at having seen the body. "Yea, I'm fine. It was just a few simple questions."

"Alright. Let's go find Paine and Baralai." He answered. If he recognized my false smile, he didn't show it.

Baralai and Paine were a couple of rooms away waiting for us. Paine as always looked bored as she stood standing against the wall with her arms and ankles crossed.

"So what did they ask you?" Paine asked with a slightly more annoyed voice than usual.

"He asked me what we were doing at the time of the explosion, and what my name was." I replied.

"Did you tell them your name?" Gippal asked.

"Yea, and he recognized me from the time I helped Yunie defeat Sin. I made him promise not to release my name or yours if you had told them."

Gippal's face paled slightly.

"Gippal, what's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"Well I didn't think that you would give your name and so when they asked why I was so worried I told them you were pregnant, and that you shouldn't get too stressed out." Gippal told me.

"Please tell me you didn't."

"Sorry. I didn't think that you would actually give your name."

"Yea but everyone knows that we're engaged because of Yuna's speech. Besides if he watched the speech than he would've already known who we were. We had better hope that, that doesn't get leaked out. Other wise that will start a huge controversy, and that nosy reporter Shelinda will hunt us down for 'the scoop', and I really don't want to deal with her, and if we do end up in the news then everyone will defiantly recognize us and we won't be able to finish the investigation in quiet. Now I know why Yuna lives on Besaid." I said muttering the last part to my self.

"Sorry." He answered.

I sighed. "It's ok so what did they ask you guys?" I asked Paine and Baralai.

"They asked us for our autograph, and then they inquired about you two. They didn't ask anything about the investigation. I didn't tell them anything except that you two were close friends and when they wanted more information I left the room and Baralai followed me out. Oh and by the way Baralai, did you notice that guys eyes? He was Al Bhed. Since when did the Bevelle police force include Al Bhed. I thought the people still hated them too much to allow that?" She said.

"No, I didn't notice his eyes. And there aren't any Al Bhed on the police force for the very same reason you mentioned. That and no Al Bhed live in Bevelle." He replied.

"Wait they let you in with Paine, but I couldn't go in with Rikku? Why?" Gippal asked sounding very pissed.

"Probably because I'm the Praetor and she's my wife. Unfortunately because of that we get treated differently." Baralai said as he returned to the conversation. Gippal did the same.

"But the cop who questioned us was Al Bhed. I saw the eyes." She said.

"And the cop who questioned me said he was half Al Bhed when I asked him how he knew who I was. But if what you say is true. Then he was either lying or he managed to sneak into the police force because he didn't have the Al Bhed eyes or hair. But if he was lying then how did he know who we were?"

"I don't know, but I think it would be best if the both of you stay with us tonight in one of the guest rooms. I'll call the real police and Paine and I will give our statements, and tell them about the imposters. But in order to do this Paine and I are going to have to release your names, and Rikku, we might have to tell them you're pregnant, if they ask us what you two told the imposters.

"It doesn't matter anymore, tell them anything you need to. I should've realized something was wrong. The real police would've let Gippal in with me if they only wanted a statement. That and Paine said that we needed the escort because we're hated to much, so if that was true than why would the Al Bhed be on the Police force. And he would've known about us if he watched Yuna's speech."

"Rikku, don't blame yourself. You couldn't have known. They fooled all of us." Paine said.

I looked at her, still not used to this new Paine. A Paine who's more open and shows more emotion, but I smiled at her none the less.

Then out of no where I started to feel tired as I stifled a yawn.

"Why don't I show you to your rooms while Baralai calls the real police?"

"No, not yet. We should be here when you give your statements. Only we know what we said." I replied.

"But Rikku, you're pregnant, you need your rest." Paine said.

I sighed. "I know I'm pregnant. Can you all just stop reminding me? After a while, when that's all you constantly hear it get slightly annoying. All of a sudden everyone thinks they know what's best for you as if they've been through it themselves, when they haven't." I snapped.

As soon I did that I quickly covered my mouth, shocked that I got that mad. "Oh my faith, I am so sorry, I never meant to snap at you like that."

But they didn't seem to mind.

"It's ok Rikku, we know you didn't mean it. It's just the mood swings talking." Paine answered.

"This sucks. I love being pregnant, I'm just not crazy about the mood swings and morning sickness." I said pouting.

Gippal just chuckled slightly as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I'm sorry Neggi," He said calling me by my name if it were to be translated into Al Bhed, even though it's an Al Bhed name.(kinda lame nickname but I couldn't think of anything else)

"For what?" I asked.

"For everything."

I think that Baralai and Paine sensed that this conversation was going to become personal so they left to go call the real Bevelle police.

"Gippal, don't be."

"But Rikku, I feel so bad. We're only 18, and already we're expecting our first child. Look what I've done to you. I got you pregnant, and you're only 18." He said to me.

"Gippal look at me. I knew the risks when we did this, I knew exactly what could've happened, and I didn't care. I love you more than anything. I don't care if I'm only 18 and pregnant. I want this child more than anything, and I want you to want it too. So please don't blame yourself for anything. I have no regrets." I told him.

"I want this child more than anything too Rikku, and I also love you more then anything. I just hate it when you get sick, and I feel bad. I also feel bad when you snap at someone when you didn't mean to." He said.

"I know, but weather or not we waited a couple of years to have a child I'd still get sick and I'd still be moody. It all comes with pregnancy Gippal. That and my stomach getting bigger. There's nothing we can do to stop it, so please don't feel bad."

"Are you sure? No regrets?"

"Absolutely."

He hugged me tightly, then kissed me deeply.

"Ah-hem" We heard quietly.

When we heard this we pulled apart, and saw Paine and Baralai, standing in the doorway, looking away slightly.

"Hiya Paine, what's up?"

"The real police are on the way. They said that they were on the way when they heard the blast, but couldn't get through because someone had blocked all of the streets with fiends. They don't know who, but there was at least one hundred on all of the streets leading here, and they had to protect the people and kill the fiends to get through. But they should be here soon. Are you going to talk to them also?" Asked Paine.

"Yes. Only I know what I said to him and what he said to me." I said.

"Alright. Gippal, are you talking to them too?" Paine asked

"Yes, and I'll be right by Rikku's side." He said , his arm tightening around my waist.

"Alright. Then we might as well wait here."

It only took five minutes, from when we sat down, till the police arrived. This time I had no doubt about who they were. They had a different air about them. It felt authoritative. Like they knew exactly what they were doing, and there was to be no fooling around.

There was four altogether, and they looked a little beat up, and a little worse for wear.

"Praetor Baralai, Lady Paine." They said with respective nods, "and guests."

The one who looked like their chief stepped forward slightly. "Praetor Baralai, Lady Paine, please forgive us for being so late, and letting a few fiends stop us."

"Nonsense, what happened was not your fault, not to much harm has been done, though we need you to call the proper authorities to deal with the only causality." Baralai replied.

"Gentleman, would you allow me to call a white mage to attend to your injuries and restore your strength?" Paine asked.

It was weird to hear Paine talk like a "lady" and with such a proper attitude.

"That would be most gracious of you. Yes we would allow that if you can spare one." He said.

"Paine if I may, and if neither of you nor they would object, I could heal them. I have mastered the arts of white magic." I suggested.

"If you wish. Do you object sir?" Paine asked.

"Oh, I could not trouble your guest, Lady Paine."

"It would be no trouble at all." I replied.

"Very well, we would honored."

I quickly changed dress spheres, and carefully observed each of their injuries, silently deciding which spell is best for each. One of them needed a simple curaga spell, another needed an antidote and a curaga, the next needed eye drops, and the chief needed a holy water and curaga. After they were all healed and returned to full strength, I changed back into my thief outfit, fighting back a wave of dizziness.

"Thank you, we are truly indebted to you." The chief replied.

"Think nothing of it. The only thing I can ask of you would to please not be to judgmental of me or my fiancee because of our race." I replied.

"With you selfless act, I wouldn't think of it. Never in all my years have I seen nor heard of an Al Bhed willingly help someone else." He replied.

"That's because my people were never given the chance. We were always forced to stay hidden. We would never go out of our way to hurt anyone." I answered.

"I see that now and regret my error. Please forgive me." He asked. Asked with a bow.

I was completely taken aback. I never expected this. "You are forgiven." I answered "Thank you. Well shall we continue the investigation?" The chief asked.

The chief and one his men led Gippal and I to one room and Paine and Baralai to another.

"So, why we start from the beginning. What happened today?" The chief asked as the other officer sat down and took out a notepad to take our statements.

"At Around twelve Gippal and I arrived at Bevelle harbor and was escorted to Baralai's study, so we could discuss important maters. After about ten minutes, I asked to Paine to show me where the bathrooms were. From there we decided to go to te kitchens to go get something to eat while Gippal and Baralai continued the discussion. Paine and I were in the kitchens for about a half an hour when we heard the explosion and felt the room shake. Due to the explosion the light went out, and a few minuets later Baralai and Gippal came in to see if we were ok. We then proceeded to go down to the lower level, and when we got there we saw the damage the explosion had caused." I said, not wanting to recall the images of the body.

"The explosion had caused the death of the security guard." Gippal said taking over for me. "After a few minutes, people claiming to be the bevelle police came and insisted on taking our statements. They wouldn't let me in with her and so I argued with them. But rikku had insisted that she would be fine and I trust her judgement. So, I let her go while I was taken into another room to be questioned. They asked me why I was so reluctant to let her be questioned alone, and why I was so worried about her. I told them why. I told them that she was pregnant and that she shouldn't be stressed to much, and if they made her recall the image of the security guards body it might freak her out to much. Now I only reveled this because I didn't think she would give them her name." Gippal said.

"Why would it be bad if they knew her name and knew that she was pregnant?" the chief asked.

I hesitated for a second. "My father is the leader of the Al Bhed. I'm next in line to take over once he steps down, since my brother isn't competent enough to be our leader, or leader of anything for that matter. Gippal and I are investigating the destruction at Djose temple. Gippal was the leader of the Machine Faction. We had no knowledge of the other explosions until today. We had been visiting my father, who is in the hospital at Bikanel island, for serious injuries he had received from an unknown attacker.

"Forget the fact that the people of Spira don't know who my father is, they know me from my actions in helping Yuna defeat Sin and Vegnagun, f they had found out that I was pregnant before I was married, then that would've caused a huge controversy and my fiancee and I would not be able to finish our investigation on our own. We don't feel like having reporters follow us and trying to interview us and getting in our way. Plus, as I mentioned before, the people of Spira know that I helped Yuna defeat Sin and Vegnagun and they might think she's involved in some way, all though I don't know where she stands on this subject just yet considering that I haven't talked to her in a while." I replied

"I see, so what happened after that?"

"While they were questioning me, they asked me to recall what had happened." I replied taking over the conversation again. "The one guy reveled to me, though I'm sure he was lying, that he was half Al Bhed and just got lucky enough to not get our blonde hair or green eyes, and I believed him. I told him my name and I told him exactly what happened. I told them everything I told you." I finished.

"Hmmm, that could be a problem if it does get leaked to the press."

I put my head in my hands, again wondering why anything can't go right for once., and slightly mad at myself that I didn't realize they were lying. I should've realized that he was lying because of hair and eye traits are dominate genes and that even if he was half Al Bhed he would've gotten our hair and eye color. "I messed things up big time, didn't I?" I asked.

"You made an honest mistake, anyone would've done it." The chief replied.

"Yea but..." I started

"Rikku, it's ok." Gippal told me.

I just nodded my head.

"And what did you tell them?" He asked Gippal.

'I argued with them for a little while and then they asked why I was so adamant about being with her, and as I said before, I accidentally let slip she was pregnant and shouldn't be stressed out. I'm just a bit over protective." He admitted sheepishly.

"First child?"

"Yea."

"I was the same way when Marley, my wife, was pregnant with our first. It's only to be expected. You'll realize in time that women instinctively know what they can and can not do and that she'll be fine. Anyway, what happened next?"

"Well then they asked me the same thing they asked Rikku. I told them everything she did up to the part when she and Paine left. Baralai and I had continued our discussion and about 15 to 20 minutes later we heard the explosion and felt the building shake. Then the both of us, worried about our significant others, ran down to the kitchens, because they had told one of the priests to let us know where we were, to see if they were ok. When we were sure that they were ok we decided to go and see what had happened. We discovered the body of the only casualty, and the rest you know." Gippal finished.

For a few minutes the only sound to be heard was that of the other police officer writing on the notepad.

"Ok. Well thank you for your help, it should prove to be very useful." the chief said, as we all stood up to leave, and shook our hands.

We stepped out of one of the side rooms and saw, that thankfully, the body of the guard had been dealt with.

Paine and Baralai walked out a few minutes later. The police all gathered and turned to us.

"Thank you Lady Paine and Sir Baralai, and honored guests, for all of your help, and we offer our deepest regrets that we couldn't have gotten here sooner." the chief us.

"That's alright. Not to much damage has been done." Baralai replied.

"Well, we shall be returning to the station and start to review our notes, and will continue our investigation form there. We shall try our hardest to find the imposters and I personally promise we will do the best we can to ensure nothing is leaked to the press, Lady Rikku." He said acknowledging my status as an equal.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me." I replied.

With one final bow, the chief and his men left.

A huge yawn came over me as I quickly tried to hide it. I was surprised at how quickly I got tired lately.

I gave a small squeak as I felt my feet leave the floor, and quit suddenly found myself in Gippal's arms.

"Permission to carry my princess to our room?"

"Permission granted, my prince." I responded coyly.

"Would the lady Dr. P" Gippal said grinning. "Kindly show us where our room is?"

Paine waked up to us, smacked Gippal and said "Right this way."

Our room was located on the third floor, the same floor as theirs incase anything happened, we could find each other easily.

"Thank you Dr. P, Much obliged." He said

She glared slightly at him and walked away muttering under her breath.

The room was huge. It looked like one floor of a normal house. The living room was furnished in blues and white, with a T.V. on the right wall. To the left of the living room the kitchen with all of the latest appliances and black and white tiling. Through the kitchen was a short hallway leading to the bedroom. The bedroom was decorated in a reddish pink, and the bed was huge.

I couldn't resist, so as soon as Gippal put me down, I ran and jumped onto the bed, face first. It was so unbelievably comfortable. It felt like I was laying on a cloud. Gippal kicked off his boots and joined me. I turned on my side to face him, and he did the same. I kicked off my shoes and snuggled next to him as he wrapped his arm around me and kissed my forehead lightly.

I puled my head back and kissed him lightly and I smiled ,a smile filed with love, and thankfulness that he's here beside me and to help me cope with the difficult times.

He kissed me back, and before we knew it we were making out. Not as feverishly as we usually are, but softly, tenderly.

We pulled apart after a few minutes, and just stayed in each others arms.

"I should go take a shower." I said eventually.

"Uh huh" He replied, not letting go of me.

"And in order for me to do that, you have to let me up." I said

"If you can get out of my grasp, you can take a shower." He told me.

"Ok" I replied planning to just wiggle my way out. But then he flipped me under him, effectively pinning me to the bed so I couldn't got out."

"That's not fair." I whined.

"I said to get out of my grasp. I never said what kind of grasp you had to get out of and you never asked."

"It's still not fair."I pouted.

"I think it's pretty fair. I'm kinda liking this advantage." He said leaning his head closer to mine.

I could fell his warm breath on my face and closed my eyes in anticipation. I soon felt his warm lips on my own, and wrapped my arms around his neck brining him closer to me, if that was even possible. I parted my lips and allowed his tongue access. I couldn't help the moan that escaped and Gippal moved to trail kisses down my neck. He stopped at my collar bone and surprised me when he kissed my bare stomach. I was currently wearing my thief outfit

"Hello in there." he said talking to my stomach. "I know you probably can't hear me, but it's me your daddy. I just... I just wanted you to hear my voice and know that you have a wonderful and beautiful mommy who loves you and well an average and very lucky daddy who loves you and mommy more than anything." He finished, kissing my stomach one last time.

He rested his head against my chest and I lightly started stroking his hair. I was to overwhelmed with emotion to say anything. Maybe it was my messed up hormones but that was the sweetest thing I ever heard anyone say, and I was lucky enough to have him as my fiancee.

"I guess you want to take your shower now?" He asked.

"Nah. It can wait until morning." I told him kissing the top of his head.

We eventually laid on our sides, with his arms around me, and my head resting under his chin, and that's how we fell asleep.

A/N: well how did you like it? So what do you want me to do? Do you want me to wait until I finish the entire story and then update, or update whenever I finish a chapter?


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: hey everyone. Well only one reviewer said that they would prefer me to update when I finish, but since it's taking me longer than I had hopped to finish it I'm going to post as soon as I write the chapter. Thank you so much, anyway to vampireprincessZ for your input I really appreciate it. Warning for this chapter, there is a bit of lemon in it, not overly but just thought I should say something so no one can complain that I didn't warn them.

Chapter15

When I woke up, Gippal wasn't asleep next to me. But I smelled the intoxicating smell of bacon, and to my surprise I found that I didn't feel sick. I figured that Gippal was trying to cook and be quite about it, because every few seconds I would hear him curse silently, then quickly stopping everything to try to hear if I was awake yet.

I decided to take my shower and pretend that I didn't hear or smell anything. And be surprised. I took a nice, hot shower for about ten minutes. Then I got out, dried off and decided to put on my songstress outfit. I walked into the kitchen and saw Gippal trying to make eggs and bacon.

I leaned against the door frame of the kitchen, waiting to see how long it takes him to realize that I was there. It was a sweet gesture, but very comical. There was Gippal, frantically trying not to burn the bacon, along with trying to scramble the eggs, but to no avail.

It took him a few minutes to realize that I was standing there.

"Rikku! Hi . . . um, good morning." He said.

"Do you want some help?" I asked walking into the kitchen

"Nah., I got it." He lied.

"Gippal, the bacon's burning." I said, which made him temporarily abandon the eggs, at which point I stepped in and took over cooking the eggs.

"I could've gotten it." He said, putting the bacon on a plate lined with paper towels, and blotting the bacon with another paper towel to get all the extra grease off the bacon.

"I know, but I wanted to help." I replied, finishing the eggs and turning off the burner and removing the skillet and placing it on a cool burner so as not to burn the eggs.

"Fine. But can I finish the rest? Please?" He asked with a pout on his face.

"Fine, but I get to set the table." I told him as I took two plates from the cabinet and set them on the dining room table.

"Deal." He said as he went back to preparing breakfast.

I finished setting the table, taking out the cups, napkins, and silverware.

"Gippal, what do you want to drink?" I asked over my shoulder as I put the silver ware on the table.

"It's alright Rikku. I'll get it." He responded.

"Ok." I said, watching Gippal place the food on the plates, and carry them to the table.

"Breakfast, my love?" He said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"You're very cheery this morning."

"Well why not, it's a great morning. Now that the Bevelle police are on our side, it feels as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Since they're focusing on the bombings, we can concentrate on the bombing at Djose, and see what we can find. Maybe we can even find Layla, and let her know what happened to Dravidian. So what do you want to drink?" He asked me.

"Orange juice." I replied distractedly. "That makes sense, but I think we should go back to Bikanel, my father knows more than he's letting on. Something's been bothering me since we saw Dravidian on that stretcher. Things are falling into place now. I'm almost certain that Dravidian has something to with this, and somehow knows my father, beyond them being at the old home before he met my mother. Something's going on Gippal, something I don't know about and I intend on finding out, and if I have to I'll make my father tell me, one way or another."

"How do you plan on doing that? Your father is the stubbornest Al Bhed out of the entire race, aside from you of course." He said adding the last part in a joking manner.

I rolled my eyes. "Now you know where I get it from. As for getting my father to talk, well, I'd hate to do it, but I'll just tell him that I won't let him ever see his grandchild." I replied quietly.

"Could you really do that? Could you ban our child from ever knowing their only surviving grandparent, and keep your father from knowing his first grandchild?" He asked me.

"He kept me, and my brother for that matter, from knowing my Aunt, Uncle Braska, and Yunie. I knew about them and they knew about us, but because my father refused to talk to my aunt, we never got to know each other, and if he had kept in touch then she might never have been killed by Sin, and then Uncle Braska would not have become a summoner, and died, leaving Yunie as an orphan." I said, my emotions a mix of anger and sorrow.

"That's true, and you have every right to be angry. But also Rikku keep in mind that if Braska didn't become a summoner and die, for what he believed in then Yuna probably wouldn't have become one, and defeated Sin. For all we know if that never happened then Sin might still be around today. One of us could've been killed, that or worse, our child, if we had still gotten back together, could be killed. If Sin were still here, our people would still be fiercely hated, and the Machine Faction would never have been created, and Home might still be here. If Sin were still around nothing would've changed. I mean we might've never gotten back together, and I could be dead due to the Crimson Squad. I know it's hard not knowing your relatives, I don't remember my parents, but at least your aunt didn't die in vain. That and would Yuna have met Tidus if his father didn't become Sin?" Gippal said.

It was true. I couldn't deny that so many good and bad things, but mainly good things, have come out of my aunts death. Like he said, she didn't die vain.

"You've right. But still I will do what I must, even if it's an idle threat, it has to be done, hidden secrets must finally be told for this to be solved." I said, my resolve sat.

"Alright. If that's what you decide then I'm right here beside you. And besides, you said it was a false threat. Right?"

"Right." I assured him, finishing my breakfast.

Gippal finished his and after we washed the dishes. Gippal insisted on washing so I dried them. After we made the bed and then went into the living room and turned on the news.

"Hello all. This is Shelinda reporting from outside Bevelle's Central Building, and also home of Praetor Baralai, and wife Lady Paine.

"Yesterday afternoon at around 2:00 p.m., another bombing occurred. This time the victim was Marcus Fieldman, a security guard, here. Earlier he was seen escorting two Al Bheds, the Lady Rikku, one of High Summoner Yuna's guardians, and Sir Gippal, leader of the former Machine Faction, and one of those who helped in the defeat of the monstrous machina Vegnagun, inside this building you see behind us. It was reported that they were on their way to a meeting with the Praetor and his wife.

"Not much is known about what they were discussing, and we don't yet know what happened inside this building, but I can assure you that as soon as we find out, Spira, you will the first to know."

"Again this was Shelinda reporting outside of Bevelle's Central Building."

I clicked off the T.V.

"Well at least they haven't released anything yet liked they promised." I said, slightly relieved.

A few seconds later there was a knock on the door. I got up to answer it and found Paine and Baralai at the door.

"Good Morning." I said opening the door wider to let them in.

"Good Morning." Baralai said in response.

"We have a serious problem." Paine blurted out, skipping all pleasantries.

"What's wrong?" I asked concerned.

"Thanks to that reporter, Shelinda, all of Bevelle now knows that you two are here, and they're not happy about that?" She responded.

I looked at her confused.

"You two are Al Bhed, the people of Bevelle still aren't crazy about the Al Bhed, and now that there's been another bombing, they're placing the blame on you two, and they want you both behind bars as soon as possible. They're right outside the front entrance."

I felt my face pale considerably.

"They're calling for action, they want us to arrest the both of you as I said before."

I closed my eyes. My mind was reeling at this new piece of information. I mean, sure I've been arrested once, but that was because we were charged with heresy, for coming too close to the truth and possibly revealing this info to the public, oh yea and killing Seymour didn't help either, but at least that time was because of things we actually did, not false allocations.

"We have to get you both out of here. There's a back entrance no one knows about. We'll get you out of the city and then Baralai and I will handle the crowd. But we have to go now." Paine said.

I quickly regained my composure. "Alright, let's go." I said.

Gippal kept a firm hold on my hand as we were led down many seemingly endless corridors and dark winding staircases. The corridors we went through were so dark that when we finally got to the door leading outside, my eyes took a few minutes to adjust to the sudden brightness as I saw spots for a few minutes.

"Just follow this road and it should lead you to the Thunder Plains. It's a hidden path no one's discovered yet, it's the way the entrance is hidden, that prevents people from noticing it. And don't worry, we'll do the best we can to keep the suspicion away form you, even tough we know you're innocent, they don't, and that's the last thing you guys need on you backs." Paine told us.

"Thank you." I said, and on impulse gave her a hug.

She was startled but hugged me back.

"You're welcome. Now go before it's to late." She said.

We turned around and started the journey to the Thunder Plains. We eventually came upon a tunnel as the ground started sloping downward, probably going below sea level, we concluded. We continued down this tunnel as it sloped downward a little more and eventually leveled out. After about fifteen to twenty minuets of waking down the tunnel we finally started to see some light. At the end of the tunnel we could hear the thunder and rain and yet no rain came into the tunnel.

We climbed out of the tunnel and found ourselves in the southern end of the Thunder Plains on the border of the fading Macalania Woods and Thunder Plains. The tunnel was hidden very carefully on the border and sheltered by a bush.

In the Thunder Plains my competitive nature came out and I challenged Gippal to a race. I was careful though, because of my pregnancy, and so I was very aware of my body and how exhausted I got and how much energy I used. Gippal took it easy on me and let me win. We only raced to the inn, and in all actuality I didn't really run, so much as I was speed walking.

But anyway, when we got to the inn, we went inside to dry off for a little. We stepped inside, and to our surprise saw Layla sitting at the little table in the front of the inn, drinking a cup of hot cocoa, her wavy brown hair falling to the middle of her back.

"Layla?" I said, walking over to where she sat.

"Rikku, Gippal, Hello. How are you? I had heard that you two were at Bevelle and was on my way to find you." She said.

"Oh you were looking for us? We were looking for you. We have some questions for you." I replied, taking the seat across from her. Gippal sat down next to me.

"Well I hope I have some answers for you." She answered.

"Alright, well my first question, How do you know my father?"

"Well your father is the leader of the LA Bhed, I lived at Home for a while with Dravidian, who as you know is half Al Bhed."

"I know that much, but what I mean is how do you _know_ my father?" I asked putting emphasis on the word 'know'.

She sighed. "How much has your father told you?"

"Nothing. He's had plenty of opportunities, but he hasn't said anything yet."

"Well, I'm sorry Rikku, I really am, bit it's not my place to say."

"Layla please." I pleaded desperately.

"I'm sorry Rikku, but that's my final answer. Your father will tell you when he's ready."

I just nodded my head.

"Layla, you said you were looking for us?" Gippal asked.

"I think I know who might be doing this." She paused, taking a deep breath. "I think it might be my son, Dravidian." She replied stoically.

"Layla, I don't think you know this, but Dravidian is in the hospital. He is hurt pretty badly, and you know that a bombing happened at Bevelle, it couldn't have been him." Gippal replied.

"You don't know my son. He has his ways. He has connections, as much as I hate to admit it, my son over the last few years has made alliances with _some people_." She said.

"Do you know who these people are, or have any concrete proof?" Gippal asked.

"Unfortunately no. The only other thing I can provide is a mother's instinct." She said looking at me with her piercing blue eyes, as if she knew I was pregnant. I idly wondered how her eyes can be so piercing and yet her features remained so soft.

I shifted slightly under her gaze.

"Alright, well you've given us something to think about, but I just have one more question. Does Dravidian know how to make bombs?" Gippal asked.

"Yes." She said, looking at Gippal directly in his eyes, her gaze unwavering.

"Thank you Layla. You've been a great help, but we really must be going now." Gippal responded, standing up and offering me his hand.

I took it, as he helped me up and out of my chair.

"Please just think over what I said." Layla said, standing up and walking us to the door.

When we walked outside, I changed into my trainer dress sphere, making sure not summon my pet monkey, Ghiki, so I wouldn't get to wet.

"Alright, well lets get going." I said.

It took us about 10 -15 minutes to get through the Thunder Plains, with the lightning striking the towers every so often. Secretly I was still slightly afraid of lightning, but didn't let it show.

We got to Guadosalam and I quickly changed back into my thief outfit, I wasn't one for wearing long skirts for too long. We didn't stay too long as we quickly exited Guadosalam into the bright sunlight. It took us a few minutes for our eyes to adjust. We started walking toward the bank of the Moonflow.

"So I was right. My father does know more than he's letting on. He does know Layla some other way." I said.

"Yea, but I think there's something a little off about her. I mean what mother could say that about their child, and with such conviction." Gippal replied.

"There's more to this story than we know. Don't judge people just yet." I answered him.

"I know but something about this whole thing feels weird."

"True, but I think Dravidian has more to do with this."

"I'm not so sure about that, I mean, why would he attack himself?" Gippal asked.

"To throw us off his trail maybe." I replied.

"I don't know, I mean I understand you logic, but he almost killed himself."

"But it doesn't fit the attack pattern, maybe he finally slipped up."

"What if the attacker is now going after the Al Bhed also."

"I don't know. I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens, along with finding more evidence." I replied as we reached the south bank of the Moonflow.

We got on the Shoopuf, each of us silent with our thoughts, trying to digest all that happened.

The Shoopuf came to the North Bank and we got off. We walked the short distance to the intersection of Djose and Mushroom Rock Road.

Both of us stopped at the same time, when we got to the temple. We were both lost in our own thoughts. The temple was so quiet, save for the lightning and rocks still miraculously moving around the temple.

"Well shall we go in?" Gippal asked in a subdued voice.

"Uh-huh." I answered quietly.

We walked up the temple entrance, and puled open the doors. I covered my nose and mouth with my scarf, so I wouldn't inhale any of the harmful dust that may still be lingering in the air.

Every single thing was covered in a thick layer of dust. The floor had footprints in the dust from the rescue team that came through to clear away the bodies.

We walked around the silent chamber looking for any hint of a bomb fragment or anything else that would be helpful in out investigation.

For twenty minutes we scoured every inch of the foyer and anti-chambers and found nothing, absolutely nothing, not a single trace of anything useful. It looked like an investigation team, had been here as well, clearing away all of the evidence.

We decided to check out the cloister of trials. When we got to the door, we found to our dismay that it would not open.

Gippal kicked the door in frustration. "Damn it." He shouted.

"Gippal." I said placing my hand on his shoulder.

"I know. It's just . . . it's hard to se all of my hard work destroyed. I put everything I had into to Faction. This was my way to contribute to the growing peace of Spira. I had hoped that the faction would bring people together, and it did. But now, now it's been destroyed, all the people and the machina, and most of the tools we used to build them are gone." He responded sadly.

"Trust me Gippal, I know how you feel. I felt the exact same way when I had to watch the destruction of Home. Home was my life. It was every Al Bhed's life. My life felt like it was shattered, ya know? Every Al Bhed put their heart and soul into making Home Better. Home and machina are an Al Bhed's life, their 'baby' if you will. So to you, losing the Faction was like losing your 'baby'." I said unconsciously touching a hand to my stomach.

"You're right. It was, but not in the literal sense. If I was to lose you or our baby my life would have no meaning, and I wouldn't have the will to live." He said kissing me. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on top of mine.

I hugged him back, listening to his heart beat.

"I love you Gippal."

"I love you too."

"All right, well let's figure out how to get this door open." I said pulling back slightly after a few minutes. "Is there a control panel or a circuit breaker that we could work with?"

"Not that I know of. We never found one, we figured that the lights were connected to the lightning and rocks moving around the outside of the temple."

"Well, I'm guessing that there probably is one since the lightning and rocks are still moving." I stated. I started taping on the wall near the door. Nothing. I turned around and started scanning the temple and my eyes stopped on the four pillars right at the landing. I meticulously scanned the poles, and right near the bottom of the bottom left on was a small red button.

"There." I said, pointing it out to Gippal.

He let a whistle escape his lips. "Wow, how the hell did we miss that?"

"Well it's so small that it's hard to see, and easy to over look." I said

"The only question now is can we fix it."

"Well once we get the right equipment and I try to fix it, I'll let you know."

"Wait, so _you_ can fix it." Rikku, you're pregnant, you shouldn't be working with machines. What if you get shocked, it could harm you and the baby." He replied.

"Gippal, I'll be fine. I can do it."

He crossed his arms and stared me in the eye.

"No."

"Gippal."

"Rikku, I said no. I've been lenient so far, but this is where I draw the line. You're two months pregnant, and you have to realize that there are certain things you can no longer do while you're pregnant, and working with machina is one of them."

I had crossed my arms and stared back at him. After a few minutes I sighed in defeat and dropped my arms to my sides.

"You're right." I said dropping my head and looking at the ground ashamed at how reckless I was being. I now had another life to worry about, and was neglecting that.

"Rikku, it's ok. You haven't done anything wrong. No damage has been done." He said, placing his hands on my shoulders.

I felt as if I was about to cry.

"But Gippal, I . . . I've been endangering our child. What kind of mother am I?" I said, starting to doubt my ability to take care of my own child and I'm only two months' pregnant.

"Rikku, look at me. It's alright. Just from now on I'll handle this kind of situation. Ok?" He said, trying to reassure me.

"Alright then. Let's go get the supplies." Gippal said to me, walking down the steps and walking to the right anti-chamber

"Gippal opened a hidden door in the back wall of the chamber. Inside were some tools and supplies and a ladder.

"These should be enough to fix it." Gippal said as he handed me some of the tools inside, along with some extra wires.

When we got to the pole and set the supplies down next to Gippal as he pushed the little red button and a panel slid out of the way revealing the wiring inside.

"Can you tell what's wrong with it?" I asked after a couple of minutes.

"Yea, it looks like a few of the important wires shorted out during the bombing and those were the ones that gave power to the building.

"Can you fix it?"

"We'll see." He said picking up one of the screwdrivers. "Hey Rikku can you pass me some of the extra wires I brought out?"

"Sure." I said handing him the tools and wires he needed.

"Thank you." He said giving me a quick kiss.

Fixing that piece of machina, Gippal looked like a kid in a candy shop. He was so happy to be working with machina, even if it just for a little while.

"All done." He said a few minutes later.

"Now let's see if that door opens." I responded

Walking up those steps to the door, I couldn't help but hope that the door opens. This could be our only hope in finding out who did this. That and it would make Gippal happy to know that he successfully fixed it.

We tentatively walked up to the door, and to our relief it opened. But with the door opening, the dust that had not yet settled came flying out and covered the foyer of the temple in another layer of dust. I quickly covered my nose and mouth with my scarf, while Gippal covered his mouth with his shirt.

When the dust settled, we found what we were looking for. There was evidence of the explosion everywhere, bomb fragments and shrapnel covered the floor of the corridor.

"Well think we have enough evidence." I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yea, I think we have enough." He answered.

We carefully examined the fragments and found most of the to be fragments from the machina the Faction workers were working on.

There were only a few select pieces of the bombs that were big enough to use for evidence.

We continued further into the cloister until we got to the chamber of the fayth. It seemed as if all the workers were in the foyer of the temple, so there were no bodies left behind the door.

Amazingly the chamber looked relatively undamaged, well save for the giant hole on the ground, compliments of Vegnagun.

"Well, it looks like we got all of the evidence that we're going to find. Let's go to the storage room." Gippal said.

"Sure. But where is it?" I asked

Gippal smirked. "Follow me."

We walked out of the chamber and into the side room with all of the pedestals. He pushed the second, the middle and the second to last one in and I heard a door slide open somewhere. Then wordlessly he exited the room, and stopped right next to te staircase leading to the chamber we just exited. Next to the staircase there was a new opening in the wall with a staircase leading downward.

"How did you discover this?" I asked in awe.

"Well, I figured that since the pedestals opened the door to the chamber of the fayth. Then they must've hidden something else. So I just started playing around with the pedestals and found this." He answered, gesturing to the stairs.

"Cool." I said starting down the staircase with Gippal following behind me.

The pathway was illuminated by same kind of glowing orbs as the ones in the foyer on top of the little poles. It was about 20 feet deep and took about ten minutes to get to the bottom.

The storage room looked like a huge catacomb made out rock. There were seemingly endless chambers.

"What is this place?"

"The burial place for the priests."

"This is a burial place and you're using it to store bombs and stuff! Spira Gippal." I said feeling nauseous about being in a burial chamber.

"Rikku relax. The chambers are deep into the catacombs. We don't go that far." He explained

"Alright." I said trying to quelling the uneasy feeling I had about being so near so many dead bodies.

"Follow me. The storage are is this way." Gippal turned to his left towards on of the chambers.

The whole left wing was all storage. Well there wasn't mush left to store now that the storage are was completely cleaned out.

"Well we're not going to find much here. Wait a minutes. I wonder if. . ." He mumbled to himself.

"You wonder if what Gippal?

"Hmm, Follow me." replied Gippal as he exited the storage room and continued jogging down the corridor.

"Gippal! Wait up." I shouted, reluctant to run. (A/N: I'm not sure if it's ok for a woman 2 months pregnant to run.)

He stopped and when I walked up to him, he picked me up and carried me the rest of the way.

"Gippal, where are we going?" I asked him as endless hallways passed by in quick succession. I could've sworn that I saw a skull somewhere.

"I want to see if something is still intact." He replied.

"What is it?"

"You'll see."

"He finally slowed down after about five minutes. In front of us was an incline as well as a door at the end. He carried me up the incline and set me down when we got to the door.

"Well, shall we see?" Gippal asked as he opened the door.

I quickly shielded my eyes from the direct intensity of the sunlight as it flooded the hallway.

After my eyes adjusted to the sunlight I stepped outside and followed Gippal. My jaw dropped. Right there in front of us was a streamline silver-blur airship. It was small, by airship standards, but not to bad.

"Wow, Gippal. It's . . . Did you build this?" I asked

"Yea. I've been planing it out ever since I survived the crimson squad. I've been working on it, in secret, since I started the Machine Faction. I had completed it a week before you showed up. I was planing on finding you with this when I finished it, and trying to reconcile things with yo, but you beat me to it. I had this whole elaborate plan to just whisk you away. But oh well, it worked out in the end."

I smiled. "Yea it did." after a couple of seconds in a comfortable silence I said "So does it have fuel?"

"It should, so long as it still works."

"Would we, oh I don't know, be able to fly to Bikanel?" I asked innocently.

Gippal smiled. "If the Cyjeun" still works, then yes, we'll go to Bikanel."

"Savior? That's it's name. It's nice, I like it." I said, translation his Al Bhed.

"I named it after you."

I looked at him quizzically.

"You saved me while I was in the crimson squad. All I could think about was surviving so I could see you face again, and making things right. The memory of your face, your voice, you, and everything about you kept me going. Plus you are the Al Bhed's savior. You helped lessen the prejudices against us. "

"Awww Gippal." I said giving him a kiss and a hug.

"If I had known that I would've gotten that reaction, then maybe I should've told you about it sooner." He joked.

"Ha ha. Very Funny Gippal. So uh can we go to Bikanel now."

"Yes, we can, we'll go confront your father now."

"Hmm" was all I said, not at all looking forward to the confrontation because I knew that he was going to skirt around the subject as long as possible, leaving me to have to threaten him.

"Alright. Well let's see if this thing still works.

It took about thirty seconds to get to the entrance of the ship, and to our relief we found that the bridge still opened.

"So far so good." I heard Gippal mutter.

We walked across the bridge and entered the control room.

The ship looked undamaged. But looks can be deceiving. Gippal walked to the control panel and started the engine.

The engine purred to life, and Gippal gave a sigh of relief.

"Now, let's check everything else. Computer, Do a complete scan of the ship, and report any and all damages found." He said.

"Cool, you installed a voice activated system?" I asked.

"Yea, I figured that I would be to nervous to fly it considering I was going to fly to you and try to make things right." He explained Sheepishly.

"Scan complete." The computer said, breaking a potential moment.

"Report."

"No damage has been detected."

"Good. Set a course for Bikanel. A.S.A.P."

"Course set, take off commencing. Shall I set the ship on autopilot?"

"Yea, do that."

The airship took off, and I stumbled slightly, not used to the sudden motion of an airship taking off.

Even though the airship was on autopilot we still took seats at the controls just in case something had been missed during the scan, we could take over if need be.

"I really hope I don't have to threaten my father." I said. "I just want to know the truth and without having to fight him for it."

"I know Rikku, so do I, but maybe we can think of a different way to get Cid to talk if it comes to that, rather than telling him that he can't see him grandchild."

"I've been trying to think of another way, But I can't . . . I just can't." I said, while tears unexpectedly sprung into my eyes.

"Come here Rikku." Gippal said gently.

I got up and sat sideways on his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead.

"Everything will be ok Rikku, we'll find a way through this, together." He replied soothingly.

"I know." I said sighing.

He turned my head towards me and kissed me lightly.

Another mood swing hit me, and I felt far form sad. I brought my head closer to Gippal's and kissed him passionately, to which he eagerly responded.

When the need for air arose, we broke apart, both of us breathing heavily.

"Rikku." Was all he said as we kissed again, his tongue eagerly exploring my mouth. I slid my hands up his shirt, as I straddled his lap, and rested my hands on his chest. I could feel his heart rate speed up. His hands were gently kneading my sides as he ran his hands up and down them.

His hands started traveling lower until they rested on my thighs, as he started trailing kisses down my neck. He kept going lower and lower, until a sharp jolt from the airship caused me to fall off his lap, and him to fall off the chair, leaving me pinned under him.

"We have arrived at Bikanel." The automatic voice of the control panel said.

Gippal rested his head right above my chest and started laughing slightly. I was giggling to. I mean it was kind of funny. There we were getting all hot and heavy, and all of a sudden we're interrupted by the airship landing, which taught us a lesson. Foreplay on an airship chair; not a good idea.

Gippal eventually started pulling away to get up, but I pulled him down for another kiss.

"Come on." He said, pulling away after the kiss and helping me up. "We should go interrogate your father now."

"Awww but Gippal. Come on." I practically purred, "He's not expecting us, so we can be late. What's another hour or so?" I whispered in his ear, pressing my body closer to his.

"How about later tonight?"

"Ohhh but I've never done it on an airship before." I said coyly, surprised by my audacity. Where in Spira was this coming from?

"Oh? And where have you done it?" He asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Only on the bed with, with you. That was my first time." Now I knew it. It was my hormones. I never would've easily admitted that to anyone, or at least I would joke around and never say straight out. Mood swings. Hmmm. Not all bad I suppose.

"I hope this mod swing lasts the duration of your pregnancy." He muttered.

"Exactly. What if it doesn't last. What if I'm not in the mood tonight Gippal? I feel as if a fire is running through my veins." I said.

"Alright. How about this." He said starting to kiss me again.

"That sounds good." I replied, returning his kisses.

"But no further. We'll do that later tonight."

"Deal." I said, wrapping my hands around his neck..

He backed me up until I was against the wall. I wrapped my legs around his waist so he was supporting my weight. Though doing this caused my chest to brush against his. He looked down and grinned up at me. I grinned and slipped my hands under his shirt.

"Rikku." He said.

"Relax. I just want to see your perfectly sculpted body." I replied, slipping off his shirt.

I pulled him closer to me again and wrapped my arms around his neck as I kissed him again, slipping my tongue into his mouth, causing him to tighten his arms around my waist.

We broke the kiss as he started trailing kisses down my neck to my collar bone.

All of a sudden we heard a loud banging on the landing door.

"This is the Home Security Force, and we order you to exit the airship in the name of our leader Cid." The people who knocked shouted.

Gippal set me on my feet as he retrieved his shirt.

I started laughing.

"Rikku? What's so funny?" Gippal asked confused.

"It's simple. They are ordering us to exit, 'in the name of our leader Cid', who just happens to be my father. I'm laughing because I', imagining their faces when they learn who they just ordered out of the ship.

He started smiling too.

The guards knocked again.

"We won't say it again. Exit you're airship."

We walked to the landing and opened it. I walked down to the end, with Gippal at my side.

"And just who do you think you are?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"P. . . P. . .Princess Rikku, Sir Gippal. Please forgive us. We didn't know." They said, dropping to one knee, and bowing their heads.

"Next time find out who is in the ship, before you start ordering them out of their air crafts." I said with my hands on my hips.

"We are truly sorry Princess Rikku. Please, allow us to escort you both to Home." The chief guard said.

"Ver well." I answered in a bored tone.

The six guards surrounded us and walked us to Home.

"May we assist you in any other way?" The chief asked as we got there.

"No, that will be all. You may go." I replied

They bowed, and walked off to go back to their posts to keep watch.

We pressed the access panel to the door and stated out names and out titles to the security system se we could enter.

My father was in his office which was in a private wing towards the back of the building, right where it used to be in the old Home.

The closer we got to my father's office, the more nervous I became. I kept playing with my hair.

Gippal placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes.

"Rikku, everything's going to be ok. It's just your father we're talking to. He's not going to do anything overly drastic."

I snorted. "Then you don't know my father."

"Ok so maybe he would, but not to you. You're his little princess. You're Cid's girl."

I just gave him a death glare, as he backed up a little. "You're right." I said, taking a deep breath and composing myself.

"Besides, you're also _my_ girl, and I won't let anything happen to you."

I smiled at him.

Before we knew it we were at my father's office. I knocked on the door and waited for him to answer.

"Come it." He replied.

I opened the door and Gippal and I walked in.

"Remmo Vydran." (Hello father)

"Remmo Rikku, Gippal." (Hello Rikku, Gippal)

"We need to talk Vydran."

"Sure. About what?" He asked.

"You, Dravidian, and Layla."

His faced paled considerably.

"W. . . What do you mean?" He tried to ask innocently.

"How do you know them?"

"I already told you. They used to live at the old Home."

"That's not all and you know it. Do you really think that now's the time to keep secrets? Vydran, what you know could help the investigation. We need to know everything."

He sighed. "You're right." He paused for a minute as if contemplating what to say first.

"When I was seventeen my friends dared me to go to the coast of the island ad back, and of course it was on a day where there was a huge sandstorm, making it extremely dangerous. So of course I agreed. I was supposed to bring back a rare shell, one that is only found at the coast to prove I really went to the coast. It took me four hours to get to the coast, but I made it. I was exhausted. I had, had a very difficult time getting through that sandstorm. I sat down at the beach for a while to catch my breath. I looked out at the sea, and saw something out there. It looked like a person.

"I swan out, and I was right. It was a woman, and she was unconscious, clinging onto a piece of wood. I grabbed hold of her and swam back to the shore.

"When I was younger your grandparents made me take a CPR class. I'm glad I did, because if I hadn't she would've died.

"When she regained consciousness I asked her, her name. It was Layla. She was confused and disoriented. She asked where she was and I told her. I brought her back with me to Home so I could get her the medical attention she needed.

"The storm had all but died down making the passage back to Home easier. We got back and my buddies helped me get her back inside and we brought her to my room while someone summoned the doctor. He examined her and told us that the only thing she needed was rest and relaxation to gain back her strength. She was very lucky. The waters around Bikanel aren't the best.

"After a few weeks past she was able to eat more food then before. She gradually began to regain her strength.

"My birthday was the day after she was given a clean bill of health. All of Home threw me a party. That's what we did back then. We always threw a party for whoever's birthday it was. Everyone was invited. Even Layla.

" Layla and I had formed a really good friendship, and became fast friends. Some people weren't happy about that, and me being the leaders son, didn't interfere. That is, until that night.

That was the night I met your mother. I was quite taken by her. Everything about her attracted me. Her blonde hair that was a few shades lighter then everyone else's, and how it fell to te middle of her back, her almond shaped green eyes. She was gorgeous, and you got all of her best traits." He said to me.

I smiled. I loved hearing the I look like my mom.

"Anyway, your mother had to leave early, she was taking a trip to the main lands, I forgot why, but she wanted to make sure she got enough sleep. I had asked her if she wanted to hang out when she got back. She said she would love to. I kissed her cheek goodnight and she left.

"That's when people decided to interfere. Now I'm not the best person when I'm drunk and apparently neither is Layla. Those people, I never found out who, added a really strong Al Bhed alcohol to our dinks. So we would get really drunk. It worked. Before long we were drunk off our ass's.

"One thing lead to another and we ended up sleeping together. When we woke up and realized what we had done, our faces flushed a deep crimson red with embarrassment. It was both our faults, but I felt the need to apologize profusely, and I did. She did the same thing. We got dressed with our backs facing each other. There was an awkward silence.

"I decided to leave first, and then she would leave a few minutes later. As soon as o left I marched straight down to your grandfathers office. He was kinda like our ruler at the time, and I told what had happened. He said he would straighten everything out. and he did. Even though I never found out who did it, my father did, and he exiled them.

"Every time I saw Layla we blushed and looked away. Eventually it became to much for her and she arranged for a boat to take her back to the main lands of Spira. Ii would be awhile until I saw her again.

"When your mother returned I told her what happened. I was expecting her to hate me and want nothing to do with me, but I was wrong. She accepted what happened as an accident. From that day on we were an item. We quickly fell in love and were engaged in three months.

"Then two weeks after our engagement Layla returned to Home." He said

All of a sudden I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Your mother had never met Layla, and when Layla came back your mother was at the Oasis with her friends.

"When Layla arrived she went straight to my fathers office because he was the only other person besides me she knew she could trust. She would've come to me, except she didn't know where I was. So your grandfather summoned me to his office.

"I was glad to see Layla again. I mean after all she was one of my friends even if we had an embarrassing situation. She seemed distracted though. So I asked her what was wrong.

"She was silent for a few minutes. Then she told me. She was pregnant, and I was the father. That child was Dravidian, your brother."

A/N: so how did you like it? Yes I know evil cliff hanger sorry. I couldn't help my self. I'm sorry for the long wia.t I've ben busy with work and other stuff, that and a touch of laziness. Sorry. I have the rest of the story outlined and have determined that it will be either 19 or 20 chapters long. So bear with me I will update whenever I can.


	16. Author's note: Sorry

A/N: hey everyone I know it's been a while since I updated and I'm so sorry about that. Believe me I am. But I've been diagnosed with arthritis and that has made updating really hard. I like to write my chapters out first, and the arthritis is only in my thumbs, my ankle and my toe, and of course I need my thumb to write so... But anyway I have the next chapter written out and should hope to have it up by the end of the month. Let me know if you are still reading this story. I haven't gotten many reviews lately and I know it's because of how long I take to update, but I'm just curious how many are still reading. :)


	17. Chapter 16

A/N: Yes I know it's been a while since I updated last, but I haven't been in the mood. In chapter 14 I had 8 reviews saying they wanted me to update, three weeks went by and I only got 2. Ok first I have to apologize for my lack of updating. I know I said I would have it up by the end of March I believe but I had computer trouble and for the past few months I had thought I had lost all of the chapter. I couldn't seem to access it from my flash drive, but I found a way around it and now I'm updating. Again sorry. Also please review. It seems like no one is interested any more, I know that's due in part to the long periods between chapters but for those of you who are reading please review, or I might not feel so compelled to finish it, and there is only about 5 or 6 chapters left. Please review.

Chapter 16

I stared at my father in shock. "He's my what?" I asked in disbelief.

"Your brother, well technically, your half brother." he replied.

"You kept this from me for eighteen years? Were you ever planning on telling me?" I shouted.

"Well no, not really. Layla and your mother and I decided it would be best for everyone if you kids didn't know. Of course in time though, Dravidian found out.

"Wait so mom knew about this?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes, your mother, and Layla knew each other."

"How?" I asked.

"Well at first she didn't know that, that Layla was the one I knew. Your mother took many trips to the main lands. There was this jeweler she befriended. He was half Al Bhed. So she would go out and visit him, and once in a while she would get a few things. She was the only one who knew who he was. I don't know how he concealed himself, but he did.

Anyway, onetime she went to visit him and somehow, I forgot how, her cover was blown and the people found out that she was Al Bhed. The people got angry and chased her to the edge of town. Layla saw what was happening and as your mother turned the corner, Layla grabbed her and hid her until they quieted down. From that day on they became good friends."

I stared at him in shock. "Ok, but why didn't we know about Dravidian?" I asked

"It would've been hard to explain." he replied. "Now can I finish the rest of the story?"

I nodded my head yes, while Gippal remained silent beside me.

"I stood there in shock, just staring at her. Finally, it dawned on me what she said."

'Oh', was all I could say, and yet she understood how I felt because she felt it too. There was a small part of us that was happy. For each of us it was out first child, yet we knew it was wrong.

"We decided that she'd keep the child, and that she and the child would live here at Home. Even though the certain situation we were in was because of a few select Al Bhed who didn't like her, we decided that it would be better to live among the Al Bhed rather than the rest of Spira.

Which of course complicated things with your mother and I. She was do back in a couple of hours so I would have to explain things to her when she got back.

Until then Layla and I talked about anything, skirting around the subject at hand.

Before I knew it your mother was due back at any minute. I excused myself to go and meet her.

She immediately saw my expression and asked what was wrong.

I told her to come with me and I lead her to my father's office.

We walked inside and I was the one who got the surprise.

"Layla!" she exclaimed as she ran over to her and gave her a hug.

"Wait, you know her?" I asked.

"Yes, Layla is the one that saved me that day." Chloe replied (Their mother.) "It's so good to see you. What brings you here?"

"Well, I had some things to discuss with Cid." Layla answered

"Oh?" she inquired

That's when I told her to sit down.

(Flashback type thingy)

"Do you remember when I told you about what happened that night on my birthday?"

"Yea, some jerks got you and your friend drunk, and you ended up sleeping together. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well that friend was Layla."

"Oh." was all she could say, falling silent. "Well, that still doesn't change much. I mean it was an accident, it wasn't intentional right?" she asked in a strange voice.

"Yes it was an accident and if you're asking of I still love you and want to marry you then yes. But Chloe, there's something else. Layla . . . well she's pregnant Chloe."

I heard her draw in a sharp breath.

"Chloe?" I asked hesitantly.

"I . . . ummmm . . . I need some time to think." She said walking to the door. "Layla it was good to see you again."

Layla turned to me with pained expression on her face. "I'm sorry Cid. I probably shouldn't have come."

"No. It's alright, besides I would want to know if I fathered a child, whether intentionally or not."

"Hmmm" was her only response.

"Umm look, I, uh, should probably go talk to Chloe. Do you still remember your way around?"

"Uh-huh"

"Well than why not go to the Oasis." I suggested.

"Sure." she replied standing up.

I stood up also. I opened the door for her and followed her out. We parted ways and I walked to Chloe's room.

When I got there I knocked on her door.

"Come in." she replied in a very emotional voice.

I opened the door and walked in. She looked up at me and I saw the dried tears on her face right before she looked down again.

Seeing her like that broke my heart, especially knowing that I was partly responsible for her pain.

I sat down next to her on her bed and brought my arms around her, bringing her closer to me. She cried on my shoulder for a few minutes more. She eventually stopped but kept her head on my shoulder. I rested my head on top of hers.

"Chloe, listen to me. I still love you more than anything. I still ant to marry you, if you still want to of course." I told her.

"Oh Cid of course I still want to marry you. It's just . . . I don't know. I mean what's going to happen now. Layla's pregnant Cid. This changes everything."

"I know, but we'll work through this. We'll figure something out. I didn't want this to happen. I mean yea I wanted to start a family, but with you, not Layla. She's my best friend and that's all I wanted her to be."

"You're not going to ignore that child Cid." Chloe told me.

"Of course not, but this complicates thing so much." I told her.

She pulled away form me our embrace and took my hands in hers. "Like you said Cid. We'll figure something out. All three of us.

I looked up and smiled at her and she smiled back. I leaned in and kissed her lightly, never feeling more in love with her than I did at that moment.

"Well shall we go get this over with and get everything straightened out?" I asked her.

"Sure, but do you know where Layla went?"

"Yea, she went to the Oasis."

(End Flashback Thingy)

We quickly made our way to the Oasis and found Layla with her feet in the water.

"For about two hours we talked and straightened things out. We had decided that every Sunday I would spend time with the child. We also decided to make up a story we would use to explain everything. Your mother and I would be the child's Aunt and Uncle., Claiming that Chloe's brother, who was exiled in his late teens for reasons I never really understood, would be the child's father whom Layla met in Spira.

"Also any children that Chloe and I would have we decided not to tell them about that child unless they met, and then we would say that they were distant relatives."

"But why Vydran? Why couldn't you tell brother and I about Dravidian?"

"You try explaining to a child, your own no doubt, that you had an illegitimate child with someone other than their mother. It's like teaching them that, that kind of behavior is acceptable when it's not.

"I understand that part, but what about when we were older, old enough to understand. Why couldn't you tell us then?"

"By that time Dravidian had already found out that I was his father and had refused to speak with me, and Layla and I had lost touch. You see Dravidian was a very sickly child; he needed doctors and medical treatment that we didn't have at Home at the time, and was only found on the mainlands of Spira. Layla and I decided that it would be best if they moved to Spira to get the treatment he needed. He was seven when they left and you were born three months after.

"I'm not exactly sure how Dravidian found out who I was, I think Layla might have accidentally let it slip, but I don't really know. Moving to Spira might've helped his health, but that was the only good thing. Because he was what he was, he was faced with many prejudices like all Al Bhed. He felt that I had abandoned him, that's why he hated me, and for all I know I did abandon him. I let my son go to the lions den if you will." He finished

"Yea but Vydran, if you didn't send him he might've died at a young age. Now he's all better." I said

"Yea I know the lesser of two evils I suppose. I'm sorry Rikku. I failed. I failed as a father both to you and Brother and to Dravidian." My father said, and I swear I could've seen tears in his eyes. "That is why I had stopped talking to your Aunt. I didn't want what had happened to Dravidian happen to any of the children she might have had. I though she would have learned form my mistakes. But I was wrong. Her life turned out better. After Yuna was born I started talking to her again."

"She had come to visit me and Home again after being in Bevelle for so long, she missed her fellow Al Bhed. But on her way here her shop was attacked by Sin. She didn't make it. I blame myself for what happened. I mean maybe if I hadn't stopped talking to her then maybe she would have visited more often and would not have come on the particular day. Maybe she might still be alive, her and Braska."

"Vydran, you can't blame yourself. She didn't die in vain. I mean yeah Yuna never got to know her mother, but if she didn't die then would Uncle Braska have become a summoner, would Yuna have? Vydran, her death set the wheels in motion for the defeat of Sin. Because Uncle Braska died as a summoner, Yuna became a summoner to carry on his quest to ultimately defeat Sin. I know it's hard Vydran, but you have to think about what might or might not have happened if you did not do the things you did. But vydran, I think I know who did this. I know who is behind the bombings." I said.

Suddenly everything was making sense. The situations, all of the evidence that we've collected, the note we found.

"Who?" My father asked.

"Dravidian."

"What?" Both my father and Gippal said at the same time, which was admittedly creepy.

"I mean think about it Gippal. Remember the note we found "All Full blooded Al Bhed beware." Dravidian is half Al Bhed, and was raised in Spira, Never knew his father, then he found out that his father had another family in which he was acknowledged as a father figure. He probably thought you didn't love him, and hated you for that. That is why he probably attacked you."

"It makes sense, but then why would he attack himself." Cid asked.

"To throw us off his trail. He figured out that we were getting to close to the truth, and that we figure out a pattern to the attacks, that all of the victims were Al Bhed haters."

"But then why attack the Machine Faction?" Gippal asked.

"To frame you, or maybe even kill you. You were being sympathetic to those that had hated the Al Behd for so many years. He felt you were a traitor. But he didn't plan in me being in the picture. He figured that if you were distracted with all of the Legal stuff you wouldn't try to help Nooj and Baralai solve this. Because you're Al Bhed you would have the knowledge to solve this. You know the culture and the glaringly obvious evidence that would point to an Al Behd and he couldn't have you working on the case. Plus you're not bound to any laws restricting your movements, well you are but it wouldn't look so bad if you broke some of the rules compared to if they did." I was talking fast now. Everything was starting to make sense. I burst out of the room and ran to Dravidian's hospital room with Gippal and Cid close behind.

"Rikku wait!" Gippal shouted after me.

But I ignored him and just kept going.

"It was you!" I shouted as soon as I banged open the door.

"What was me?" Dravidian asked startled.

Vydran and Gippal finally caught up with me, and Gippal placed his hand on my shoulder. "Rikku, come on, there is no concrete proof."

I shrugged off his hand from my shoulder.

"No it was you. You caused all of the bombings. You killed all of those innocent people."

He looked around the room and I saw his face harden when his gaze fell upon Cid.

"You would like that wouldn't you. The discovery of your accident half brother was probably a big shock to you. So you figured, 'hey why not blame him' Right?"

"Oh knock it off. Yes it was a surprise, but that doesn't mean that I hate you and would unjustly blame you for something, that's happened to me and I would never do that to anyone, and besides it all fits. You hate Cid. You hate most if not all of Spira for what they did to you."

"You're right. I would have a motive, if I did it. Sure I hate Cid and some of the people of Spira, but don't you dare accuse me of killing people. I have never killed any innocents in my life." He practically shouted with anger.

"Yea, anyone innocent, but those people weren't innocent. At least not to you. They were all Al Bhed haters, they tortured the Al Bhed, so they weren't really innocent, now were they?" I sneered.

He looked as if he was going to shout again, but then he closed his eyes for a few minutes, and during those few minutes I actually felt sorry for him. He looked so weak, so pale, that I actually started doubting myself, maybe it wasn't him. He opened his eyes and all of the anger was gone, now replaced by weariness.

"If I was the attacker then why would I attack myself?" he asked.

"To throw suspicion off your back." I said quietly.

"True but would I try to kill myself? I almost died." he whispered.

Just then a nurse came in. "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave now." she said in a somewhat friendly tone.

I just nodded and walked out the door with Gippal's hand placed comfortingly around my waist.

"It's him, I know it is." I whispered.

"I don't know. It seems just to obvious."

"But then who else could it be?" I asked desperately. "All of the evidence seems to point to him."

"Someone who is trying to frame him maybe?"

"I don't know Gippal. I just don't know anymore." I said with tears in my eyes

"Shhh. . . I know Rikku, I know. It'll be alright. You know what I think? I think we need a break from all of this. Something to distract our minds."

"Like what?" I asked him.

He raised my right and placed it to his mouth with a feather light kiss. "Well I was thinking, why not get married, here, at Bikanel, maybe in the Oasis, where it all began." he suggested quietly.

I rested my head on Gippal's chest, thinking it over. It would make sense, we finally have a bit of a break from the investigation, and I wouldn't have to hide our baby's existence anymore. I smiled to myself. " I would love to."

Gippal wrapped his arms around me in a loving embrace and kissed the top of my head.

"What would you say if I suggested that Baralai preside over the ceremony?" I asked.

"I would say that's a great idea." he said

Well then, come on, lets go tell pops." I said turning out of Gippal's embrace and sprinting back to my father' office with Gippal in tow, trying to catch up with me, I was giggling the whole time.

I didn't even bother knocking as I opened the door and sat in one of the chairs drooping my leg over the other one. "Hey pops, how well do you think you could plan a wedding?" I asked.

"I. . . I don't know. Why?"

"Well Gippal and I are planning on getting married here at Bikanel, at the Oasis."

"Wh. . . What? Now? But. . ."

"Vydran. I'm already pregnant. I hate having to hide my baby from the public. Once we're married I won't have to hide it anymore. And besides we don't know what the future will hold. I want to be able to call Gippal my husband before I die." I said taking Gippal's hand in mine.

"Oh sweetheart, you're not going to . . ."

"You don't know that Vydran. Anything can happen between now and the future. I don't want to think about that but you never know."

"Of course I'll help plan your wedding. It will be the biggest party Home has yet to see."

"Thank you Vydran. It means a lot to me. We were thinking of having Baralai preside over the ceremony."

"Sounds great." My father said falling silent. "Rikku could you come with me for a minute?"

"Sure."I said turning to Gippal.

"Go ahead Rikku. I'll meet you at our room. I'll go ahead and call Baralai."

I quickly kissed Gippal good bye and followed my father out of the room. He lead me to his room.

"Wait here for a minute." He said walking to his bedroom. He returned a few minutes later carrying a dress in his arms.

I gasped slightly, recognition flashing across my face.

"I want you to have this and I'm sure your mother would too."

"Vydran." I said as tears sprang into my eyes. My mother would never get to see my wedding but at least a part of her would always be with me.

"You look more and more like your mother everyday. My baby's growing up before my eyes. It seems like just yesterday you were learning how to build machina, and now you're getting married and expecting your first child." My father said with tears leaving shimmering trails on his face.

"Oh Vydran. I'll always be you little girl no matter how old I get."

"E ghuf cfaadraynd, E ghuf" (I know sweetheart, I know)

My father hugged me and we stayed that way for a few moments, pulling away with tears in both of our eyes.

"Well I should go help Gippal call everyone." I said breaking the silence. I hugged him one more time and walked back to my room carrying my mother's dress. I was itching to try it on, but I knew that it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress before the wedding. Now I wasn't one to believe in superstitions but this was one I wasn't willing to test.

I opened the door just as Gippal put down the comm sphere.

"Well Paine and Baralai are coming and he said that he would be glad to preside over our wedding. I'll let you go call Yuna and everyone else. I'm going to go take a shower." he said giving me a quick kiss.

"Ok. Oh wait did you invite Nooj?"

"Yea, he's coming and with LeBlanc. That ok?"

"Yea, it's ok, we'd have to invite her anyway, aren't they engaged now?"

"Something like that. Well I'll be in the bathroom if you need me."

"Ok." I said connecting to Besaid. I called Yuna first and didn't have to wait long for her to pick up.

"Hey Rikku." She said looking a little green.

"Hey Yuna. Are you alright?"

"I don't know. I haven't been feeling well lately. Tidus tried to cook me dinner and at the smell of it I ended up in the bathroom."

"Yunie, is it possible you're pregnant?" I asked carefully.

"I don't know. I guess."

"Well when was you last time of the month?"

"Three weeks ago. I'll have it checked out in the morning, I'm too tired right now."

"You seem awfully calm considering you could be pregnant."

"Im exhausted. It hasn't sunk in yet, but I'm sure it will tomorrow."

"Well I hope you're not too tired to accept my wedding invitation and offer to be maid of honor."

I've never seen Yuna's eyes go wider. "Seriously?"

"Yup."

"Of course I'll be your maid of honor."

"Don't forget to tell Tidus. Do you think you two can be at the Bikanel by the end of tomorrow, and then the day after we'll go to Luca to pick out the Brides maids dresses."

"Sure. OOOO I can't wait. Rikku, you're getting married."

"I know I can't believe it." I'm expecting a baby in seven months, I'm marrying Gippal. . ." I stopped dead seeing her eyes widen in shock after I realized that I just let slip that o was pregnant.

"Rikku, you're pregnant?"

"Well. . . yea. I'm two months pregnant. I was going to tell you tomorrow but it slipped."

"Does anyone else know?"

"Well, yea, Gippal, Vydran, Brother, my doctor Paine and Baralai."

"Paine knew before me?" She asked a little hurt.

"Not on purpose Yunie. Gippal and I went to Bevelle to discuss the bombings and I got sick. My morning sickness kicked in and I had to go the bathroom, and you know the faces she gives "Tell or Suffer.", and she was so concerned, I would have felt guilty if I didn't tell her, I'm sorry Yunie."

She looked at me for a minute. "Alright I forgive you."

"Yea. I'll see you tomorrow. Love ya Yunie."

"Love ya too Rikku."

I disconnected the commsphere and sighed 'One call to down, and two to go.'

Gippal was still in the shower and for a minute I imagined myself standing in a nice hot shower, the water pulsing on my back like a nice massage, relieving all of the tension I felt. I pulled my mind back to the here and now and picked up the commsphere, and put in the coordinates for Lulu and Wakka's.

Lulu picked up and I saw little Vidina on her hip.

"Hello Rikku. How are you?"

"Tired, but well thank you. I have a question for you."

"Ok"

"Would you like to be my bridesmaid?" I asked.

"Of course Rikku. I'd love to."

"Oh thank you Lulu, Umm if possible do you think you, Wakka and little Vidina could be at Bikanel by tomorrow night? We want to get everyone situated in Bikanel and them settled in their rooms so we can finish any last details that might arise and I figured the day after we could go to Luca to pick out the dresses.

"That sounds great Rikku. We'll see you tomorrow evening."

"Bye Lulu, Bye Vidina." I said as he made cute little gurgling noises.

I hung up and closed my eyes. I was so tired and had no idea why, though I chalked it up to the pregnancy. I really wanted to go to sleep, but I couldn't really leave him out.

I punched in the coordinates and waited to the familiar scene to come up. Within five seconds I saw Kimahri's familiar form in the commsphere.

"Hey Kimahri. How are you?"

"Kimahri doing well and how is Rikku?" (Ok I know I can't really write the ay he speaks.)

"I'm doing well thank you, but I have a question for you. Would you like to attend my wedding?"

"Wedding?" he asked

"Um it's like choosing your mate, your partner and making it official, that you'll be with each other forever."

"Um Kimahri would like to yes, but can not. Kimahri elder now, not allowed to leave mountain. Kimahri is sorry."

"It's alright Kimahri. I understand. Maybe I can connect the commsphere to Mt. Gagazet

and you can watch."

"Kimahri would like that."

"I'll call again when I know more. It should be in a few days. Bye Kimahri."

"Bye Rikku."

I clicked off the commsphere and fell back onto the bed with a sigh. 'Finally' I thought. 'I can sleep."

I heard Gippal get out of the shower and a few minutes later he joined me on the bed.

"So who's coming?" he asked, draping am arm around my waist.

"Well Yuna, Tidus, Wakka, Lulu and Vidina, Paine, Baralai, Nooj, Leblanc, and probably Logos and Ormi."

"Well what about that Ronso, Kimahri?"

"He's not really allowed to leave the mountain that much considering he's the elder. And of course we should invite Brother, Buddy, Benzo, Shinra and Nhadala, but of course they'll already be there considering Vydran will try and get all of the Al Bhed involved. Do you think we should invite Layla and Dravidian.?"

"I have no objection but don't you think it might be a bit awkward?"

"Hmm, it might be a little awkward, but whatever, we'll figure it out in the morning."

"Tired already? What about our _plans_?" he said with a smirk.

"Ugh, we have enough time for that later. Wedding night maybe. I'm exhausted."

He laughed lightly. "Go to sleep Rikku. We'll talk more in the morning." He said noticing my eyes drifting closed as I fell farther and farther into dream land.

A/N: well there you have it chapter 16. Again sorry for the long wait. But since I haven't gotten many reviews I want at least 4 reviews before I continue, just to know people actually do care. But as always PLEASE review.


	18. So So SO SORRY!

A/N: hey everyone. I am terribly sorry that I haven't updated like I promised I would. I have chapter 17 and am almost finished typing it up. I'm probably going to go on a hiatus for a while. I will finish writing the story and once it is all finished I will resume updating again. I will post chapter 17 first and then go on the hiatus. I just have way to much going on right now, what with college preparation and Ap homework and stuff, I just have virtually no time. I am really sorry. Forgive me . 


	19. Chapter 17

A/N: well it's good to know people are still reading this. Yet I am sad to say we are coming to the ending of this story. There are only about 5 chapters left of this tale. Well on a lighter note here is chapter 17. I am so sorry for the delay. Most of it's due to laziness, but a good chunk of it is due to the fact that my computer finally completely crashed. It would not start up at all. So for about a month I did not have it, then my graphics card went so that took another three weeks to get fixed so, that's my reason for not updating. Sorry.  WARNING: THERE IS A SLIGHT LEMON IN THIS CHAPTER. THIS CHAPTER IS GOING TO BE RATED M. I MIGHT CHANGE THE OVERALL RATING OF THE STORY BUT I'M NOT SIRE YET.

Chapter17

The Next day was a little hectic, and went by in a sort of blur. Yuna and Tidus were the first to arrive, coming at around noon. We showed them to their room, which was to the left of ours. Yuna and Tidus spent some time with Cid, catching up. Paine and Baralai arrived next at around four and Baralai stayed with Gippal who was giving him a tour of Home, and getting him acquainted with some of the people to make him feel a little less awkward. Their room was to the right of ours and for the rest of the day Yuna, Paine and I hung around doing nothing really while waiting for everyone else to arrive. Yuna of course was chatting my ear off about the baby and how she's so happy for Gippal and I, and then to Paine about random stuff. Nooj and Leblanc arrived at around six and since Leblanc went wherever Nooj was she stayed with Gippal and the guys, and let me tell you I felt so bad for Gippal having to spend most of the day with her, though I'm sure he had fun with all of the pet names Leblanc has for Nooj. Hmmm Maybe I should be worried if Gippal tries to make fun of Nooj in front of her not only would he face the wrath of Nooj, but also Leblanc, who could be quite annoying when she's mad. Lulu, Wakka, and Vidina were the last to arrive, their boat docking at around seven. They too were shown their room, which was right next to Yuna's. After they were shown their room, we all went down to the Dinning hall for dinner, and shortly after we retired to bed.

The next day after breakfast we all met at the harbor and left for Luca. We arrived at ten in the morning.

I turned to Gippal. "Alright well, I'm going to go take the girls to go dress shopping."

"I thought you already had one, the one your mother gave wore?"

"I do, but they need dresses." I said indicating Yuna and Paine.

"Right, I forgot. How long do you think you'll be?"

"Oh I don't know three maybe four hours. If you finish early you can go back to Home and we'll meet up with you later. Oh and Leblanc if you want after we get the dresses you can go back with Nooj." I said as I saw her open her mouth to say something.

She nodded her head, shocked that I knew what she was going to ask.

"Hey Lulu can I hold Vidina for a while? I figure I should practice before I have mine."

"You and Gippal are planning to have kids right after you're married?"

"Well yeah about six months after."

"Wow, you tow have really thought that out haven't you?"

I saw Yuna and Paine exchange knowing glances.

"Well not really. The baby's due in about six months."

"The baby?! Rikku you're pregnant?" She asked wide eyed. "How far along are you?"

"Yes I'm pregnant and a little over two months."

"W. . . When? How?" She stammered.

I smirked; looking over at Vidina. "Well Lulu I don't really think I need to explain the how now do I? But the baby was conceived the night we got engaged."

"Well of course you don't have to explain the how." She said blushing furiously. "But was it planned?"

"Does it matter? We want this child more than anything. Planned or not."

"No it doesn't matter. I was just wondering I mean you're so young. Not many you age plan on getting pregnant yet." She handing me Vidina to hold.

"Yeah well, I'm not all that normal now am I?"

"No, I guess you're not."

We came to a cute little dress boutique. Leblanc wasn't in my bridal party so while she shopped for a dress of her own Yunie, Paine, Lulu and I looked for bridesmaids dresses.

It took a few minutes but we finally found the perfect dress for everyone. It was an emerald green off the shoulder dress with elastic in the top hem so it had a scrunched effect. The dress had a pale spring green kind of color sash that tied around the waist with little leaves stitched into it, with slit on the right side of the dress form the hemline to the thigh.

"Wow. That was easier than I thought." I said as we all left the store.

Leblanc had found a little pink number that had a V neck down to the waist line and flared nicely to her feet.

As we were walking back to the harbor we meet up with the guys. Leblanc automatically attached herself to Nooj's hip as the rest of us meet up with our respective others.

"So Rikku, when's the wedding?" Paine asked

"Well we were going for tomorrow. Right now as we speak my father has all of Home setting up and getting everything ready, and Baralai if you want when we get back you can meet up with my father and straighten everything you need to out."

"Sounds good. I like to make sure I know the jist of the traditional wedding ceremony of whatever culture or people I'm presiding over."

We boarded our ship and settled down for the relatively short trip. Half an hour later we arrived at the Bikanel docks and rented a hover to take us back to Home.

Baralai decided to meet my father and brush up on the Al Bhed wedding culture, not that there is much difference. The men and LeBlanc followed Baralai to see if they could help in any way. The girls and I went back to my room to catch up on the time we missed.

"So Rikku, are you excited?" Yuna asked me.

"I don't think it's really sunk in yet."

"Can we see the dress?" Paine asked.

"Uh-Hu." I said as I stood up from the bed and walked to the closet. I decide to put the dress on to see how I looked in it. I closed myself in my closet and changed. I was amazed and how perfectly it fit me. I stepped out and did a little twirl.

"Oh Rikku it's gorgeous." Lulu said.

I stood in front of the full length mirror and looked at my reflection.

The dress itself was white, flowing nicely and settling at my ankles. It had spaghetti straps and was off the shoulder. Both the spaghetti straps and the off the shoulder straps were studded with Al Bhed emeralds which were the greenest of all the emeralds. The top of the dress was also studded with the emeralds as well as the waist line with strings of them sewn on from the waist to the hem.

It wasn't a traditional wedding dress but I didn't care. It was my mothers and that was all that mattered.

I started tearing up thinking of my mother. I missed her so much. I closed my eyes trying to will the tears away when I heard a gasp and felt the familiar comfort of my arms wrap around my shoulders.

In a heartbeat my eyes snapped open to look at my reflection, and there she was, my mother.

"Sudran?" I asked (Mother)

She smiled at me. "Remmo Rikku." (Hello Rikku)

I turned around, the dress twirling slightly, and tightly hugged my mother, my tears now flowing freely. "But how? . . I thought you. . ."

"Died? Yes sweetheart I am dead. The fayth let me come back for your wedding, as thanks for all you have done for Spira, and all you are forced with now, with all of the bombings and such."

"You know what is going on? Do you know who it is?"

"Just because I am dead does not mean I do not know what is going on; many of us walk among the pyreflies, yes they replay the memories of those who walk among them, but they are also a portal of such. The dead walk among us unseen everyday, and no I don't know who is doing this, no one does. But I know if anyone can figure it out you and Gippal can. I'm so proud of you sweetheart. I always knew you two would end up together."

I blushed slightly as my sudran held me at arms length. "My little girls all grown up, saved the world twice already, getting married and expecting a baby, I couldn't be happier. Oh and Yuna come and give your Yihd (Aunt) a hug. My how much you have grown."

"Oh aunt Chloe, I've missed you so much"

"And I've missed you too Yuna. I'm so proud of you too, as is your mother, she could not be happier."

I could se tears forming in Yuna's eyes.

I turned to my friends. "Lulu, Paine, this is my mother Chloe."

"I want to thank you both for looking after my little girl."

"Mooooom" I groaned.

"What?" she asked innocently. "Now where is that lucky fiancé of yours? I haven't seen him since he was a child."

"He's at the Oasis with Vydran and their respective others."

"Well don't you think it's about time I made my appearance?" My Sudran said with a mischievous smile, a smile, I've been told, I inherited, as she smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in her modest emerald green, a little shorter than knee length, halter dress.

We were lucky; no one seemed to be in the hallways, as we made out approach to the Oasis. When we arrived we stopped just before the Oasis, which was already on its way to becoming the perfect place to wed Gippal.

"Sudran, why don't you wait here for now and I'll go and get Vydran and Brother."

She just nodded, wringing her hands in anticipation.

I walked over to the nearest person. "Aqlice sa, tu oui ghuf frana tu Vydran yht Brother yna?" (Excuse me, do you know where my Father and brother are?)

"Ujan drane Bnehlacc Rikku." (Over there Princess Rikku.)

"Dryg Oui." (Thank you.)

"Oh hey Princess." My father said as he noticed my approach. "Well what do you think?"

"It's wonderful Vydran. But I have something to show you and Brother. Can you go and get him?"

"Um sure." He responded, confused.

I felt someone place their over my eyes. "Guess Who." This someone breathed huskily into my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

I decided to play games as a smirk crossed my face.

"Keisa?" I asked as I started rambling off names of completely random people.

"Oh come on Rikku, it should not be that hard."

'He actually fell for it.' I thought. I turned around and kissed him. "Of course I knew it was you Gippal. I was just joking."

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me again. "Gee Rikku, you really know how to scare a guy."

"Well I did not expect you to fall for it. Sorry."

Vydran and Brother walked up not to long after.

"So where's this thing you have to show us." Vydran asked with his arms crossed.

Gippal looked at me confused

"I'll show you, but you're 'gonna have to keep your eyes closed for now."

I could tell Vydran was going to object but thought better of it. "All right lead the way."

"You too Gippal." I said taking his hand. Vydran held onto Brother who held onto my other shoulder.

I walked the short distance to my Sudran and let go of everyone's hands. 'Alright, you can open your eye now." I said as Yuna and Paine stepped aside.

My Vydran stood there speechless, just staring at his supposedly dead wife.

"S. . . Sudran? Is that really you?" Brother stammered.

"Yes, Brother it is. I've missed you so much." Sudran replied with her arms wide open.

Brother ran to our mother and flung his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I've missed you so much too."

She hugged him back just as tightly. Brother now towered over our mothers' small frame so that she had to reach up on her tippy toes just to kiss his forehead. Sudran pulled away form Brother with a smile and looked tentatively at Vydran. She smiled lightly at him, at his shell shocked face.

"Cid?" She asked with apprehension.

"C. . . Chloe?" He asked taking a step towards her.

She nodded.

"Oh Chloe." My father breathed, rushing to take her up in his arms.

"Cid." She breathed, collapsing into his embrace.

"Chloe, I've missed you so much." Vydran said with tears in his eyes. The only other time I think I ever saw my father cry was when she died, and when Home was destroyed.

For a few minutes they just held each other and cried. Finally they pulled back, with my Sudran wiping her eyes with her hands.

"Well let me have a look at you. My look how you've all grown. Oh Gippal I'm so glad to see that you've grown into a responsible young man I always knew you two would end up together. Call it mother's intuition." My Sudran said giving Gippal a hug

"Sudran!" I said, blushing as Gippal smirked and kissed me on the cheek. He kept his arm firmly placed around my waist.

"There's just the matter of getting my little girl pregnant out of wedlock." She said teasingly. "Honestly Cid, I'm surprised he's still alive."

"Sudran." I said drawing out the word in a whiny voice as I burred my face in Gippal's chest to hide my embarrassment.

My parents and Gippal both laughed at my embarrassment.

"Seyhea" (Meanie) I whined trying to wiggle out of Gippal's grasp. But he would not let me go. I figured there was only one way out.

"Gippal, let me go." I said feigning sickness as I quickly placed a hand over my mouth and the other over my stomach.

"Rikku. Are you alright?" He asked concerned as he let like I hoped he would.

I took a stumbling step forward just to give an added effect, though I had a sneaky feeling my mother knew exactly what I was doing. I turned around and gave Gippal a mischievous smile, then took off running back to Home. I heard my mother, Yuna, and Paine start laughing as Gippal shouted my name and chased after me.

I speed past the door to Home just as it was closing; nearly knocking over the Al Bhed making his way to the Oasis. I knew the door would prolong my capture. I sprinted to my room, locked to door, and hid in my closet. I took a couple of seconds to calm my breathing so as not to give my position away.

A few minutes alter I heard the door slowly creak open as Gippal crept in silently. I let the door to the closet open ever so slightly so I could see where he was. I was no longer in my dress. I had long since changed out of it into my normal garb.

His back was to me, giving me a perfect opportunity. I slowly opened the door and jumped onto his back. One problem, he turned around and caught me, mission failed. The momentum of my jump sent us backwards towards the floor. Gippal kept a tight hold on me minimizing the jar of the impact.

We landed in. . . well a compromising position on the floor. I was on top of him and our legs were tangled together. My hands were on either side of his head, and his hands were warm and wrapped tightly around my waist. Our lips were mere inches away and our breathing was labored.

I leaned my head towards him, closing the distance between our lips. Suddenly he flipped out positions and deepened the kiss. I arched my back and moaned as one of his hands slipped beneath my shirt and rested it on my breast his thumb lightly caressing my nipple.

We were kissing hard and fast with our hands exploring each others bodies. He broke the kiss and started nipping at the skin at the base of my neck. Sands it felt so good. His one hand was at my thigh as the other fondled my breast and by that point my hands were at his belt hastily trying to undo it in my lust filled haze.

We parted for a millisecond to remove my shirt and then we crashed back together. His pants were undone and he wiggled out of them within seconds. It all happened so fast. Next thing I knew we were only in our underwear and even then my bra was almost off.

"I think the bed would be more comfortable, don't you?" He whispered huskily in my ear.

I was so far gone in my lust filled haze that all I could manage was a nod.

The Blinding sun streaming through my window woke me the next morning. I rolled over to wrap my arm around Gippal. My eyes shot open when my arms found nothing but air. For a quick second I panicked, and then I saw the note left on his pillow.

"E Muja oui." (I love you) was all it read, but it was enough to warm my heart. I stretched lazily then shout upright. Today was my wedding day. I jumped out of bed and ran into the shower. I had just finished hastily putting on my P.J.'s when I felt a wave of nausea wash over me.

"Rikku?" I heard as my bedroom door slowly opened. I regretted opening my mouth, as soon as I did everything that was not in my stomach came back up, as I leaned my head over the toilet.

My Sudran walked into the bathroom. "Oh sweetie are you alright?"

"Yea, just a little nauseous." I said standing up. I had to hold onto the wall for support when a wave of dizziness washed over me.

"Rikku, when was the last time you ate?"

"Ummm Yesterday at lunch." I admitted sheepishly.

"Rikku, you should know better than to skip a meal, especially now that you are pregnant.

"Sorry, Gippal and I were, Uh, well we, uh, He-he, were a bit distracted, I wasn't really thinking about food."

My mother smirked. "As please as I am that your sex isn't lacking, it is no excuse to not eat. Come, brush your teeth and let's go get breakfast."

"In my pajamas?"

"It's your wedding day, you're allowed to look however you like."

After breakfast we met up with Yunie, Lulu and Paine.

Yunie squealed. "Oh Rikku, are you excited, it's your big day." She said taking my hands and jumping up and down.

"Kind of. I'm nervous bit it just feels sp right, so I know there is nothing to be afraid of."

They all smiled at me. "Well Rikku, let's go get you ready." Sudran said.

Walking back to my room, I started to get nervous. I knew that I loved him and always wanted to be with him but for some reason I was undeniably scared. That's when my friend, nausea, decided to make an appearance. We got to my room and I ran straight for the bathroom. I sat in the bathroom as the breakfast I just ate came back in a not so pleasant way, with my sudran holding my hair back.

"Jeeze what's wrong with me? Is the just nerves or is the morning sickness coming back, man I hope it's not the morning sickness," I thought to my self.

"Are you okay Rikku?" Yuine asked, with a pale look to her face.

"I'm fine. It's probably just my hormones and nerves. Are you okay Yunie, you look kind of pale."

"I'm fine, I'm just worried about you. I mean it's you wedding day, I don't want you to be sick."

"Yunie, it's just a bout of morning sickness. It's what you'll have to face when you have children."

"Well morning sickness, is morning sickness, nothing we can do to stop it. Now let's get you girls ready, the ceremony starts in an hour." Sudran said.

Getting ready took longer than expected. By the time we were ready we had ten minutes to get to the Oasis.

My hair was done up in a complicated bun and I had a light dusting of green eye shadow on along with some mascara, along with a clear gloss on my lips.

Yuna, Paine, Lulu, and my mother, in a simple yellow-green gown, had a simple dusting of yellowish-gold eye shadow atop their eyes.

When we got to the Oasis we had no time to loose. We took out places at the entrance and waited.

My mother was at the head of the line as is custom for the matriarch to consent to the match, then any female relatives, Yunie, then Lulu, Paine and me at the end of the procession.

When the music started we started our slow march to the alter. My father stood in front of Gippal waiting to join our hands. I've never seen my father look so proud. The people around me were lost to me as I stared at Gippal, my soon to be ricphy. (husband) I barley even listened to the music. I was aware, however, of how unbelievably handsome he looked in his black suit with a dark green tie. I even noticed with a chuckle that he donned a new dark green eye patch for the ceremony.

I joined Gippal at the alter after my sudran approved the match and welcomed Gippal to the family, and my Vydran joined our hands together.

I didn't even really listen to Baralai's beautiful ceremony; I was only coherent enough to say I do. So entranced as I was by Gippal's eyes and the fear I saw reflected there matched my own. This was it; the beginning of the rest of our lives.

"You may now kiss the pneta(Bride)." Baralai said, pronouncing 'bride' in perfect Al Bhed.

I actually giggled when he said that and for the first time I truly noted the surroundings.

We were standing under a beautiful flowered arch way and the sun was just setting, casting a ethereal orange glow about the place while the soothing sounds of the waves lapping against the shore played in the background. I looked back at Gippal and smiled. He smiled back and brought his head closer to mine. I closed the distance as I felt him squeeze my hand lightly. I parted my lips as I felt his tongue lazily against mine. We kissed for only a few seconds as all of Home cheered.

We broke the kiss and ran back down the aisle hand in hand to the awaiting hover that would take us back to Home.

Back in our room I hugged Gippal, laying my head on his chest. I just stayed there enjoying the smell and feel of him, my husband. I giggled at the thought, now turned reality.

He kissed the top of my head. "We did it." He whispered. "You have no idea how long it have waited till the day I could call you my wife, and now I can."

"Only in my dreams did I think I could ever call you my husband, and now I can, and now our child is growing inside of me. Three years ago, with the threat of Sin, I had almost given up on my dream of getting married and starting a family of my own and now both of those dreams are coming true. Thank you so much Gippal. I said with tears in my eyes as I leaned my head to give him a kiss.

He brought his head to mine and closed the distance, lightly brushing his lips against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck as I was hyper aware of his arms around my waist, warm and gentle as he deepened the kiss. After a few minutes we broke apart smiling at each other.

"We don't have to hide the baby anymore." I said placing a hand on my still flat stomach.

"Hmmm you're right." He murmured as he placed his hand over mine, as he gave me a chaste kiss.

"Well shall we go to our reception?" I asked taking both his hands into mine.

"Lead the way."

I touched up my makeup and walked to the cafeteria turned reception hall. The cafeteria was completely transformed. There were streamers and white fabric every where. They had temporarily gotten ride of those ugly tables and brought in real fancy ones. It was gorgeous. Oh and did I mention the ice sculpture? How they managed to create it in a place located in a desert was beyond me. It was a giant chocobo.

"Congratulations!!!!" Everyone shouted as we walked through the doors.

Yunie ran up to me and gave me a huge hug. "Oh Rikku I'm so happy. You look so pretty."

"Thank you Yunie. Hopefully soon It'll be yours we're attending."

Yuna giggled and blushed as she glanced towards Tidus. "Hopefully." She agreed.

My parents came up to us hand in hand. My mother and father both hugged me, and my father shook my hand as my mother enveloped him in a hug.

"Famlusa du dra vysemo Gippal." (Welcome to the family Gippal.") Sudran said

"Dryhg oui." (Thank you) Gippal said as I caught a few tears in his eyes.

It had been a long time since Gippal had anyone to cal family, blood related at least. He was orphaned at a very young age and now he had a father-in-law, and a mother-in-law, albeit a dead one, but one who for now could at least treat him like a son, me his wife, and a baby on the way. A child that was his to call his own, a part of him, son or daughter he can watch grow up, a child he can hold, and take care of; a family to call his own.

I smiled, glad I could provide him with his greatest desire.

"What?" He asked seeing my smiling face.

"Nothing," I answered sweetly.

"Oh really?"

"Really"

We forgot the people around us as we leaned in for a kiss that started out light but slowly became deeper until my parents coughed, breaking the spell.

We blushed furiously.

"Save it for the honeymoon." Paine shouted

I blushed deeper but stuck my tongue out at her anyway.

Everyone laughed. Someone turned on the music; a slow song.

Gippal took my hand and lead me to the makeshift dance floor. He placed his arms around my waist, bringing me closer to him. We stood there, not really dancing so much as we were swaying, lost in each others eyes. We hardly even noticed the pother couples joining us on the dance floor.

I don't know how long we danced but it was eventually time to eat. After which time my father decided it was time to give a speech.

"First of all I would like to say congratulations to my daughter and son-in-law, I'm so proud of you both. Gippal, first of all I would like to say sorry. I know I was not the nicest person to you, it was nothing personal, I was just overprotective of my baby girl. I felt that no one was good enough for her. But you proved me wrong. You are exactly the person my daughter needs. You are the best choice for her and I know you will always take her best interest at heart, and will always be there for her no matter what. You are a well established Al Bhed with a bright future ahead of you with the Machine Faction. I know you both will get it up and running in no time and in better shape then it was before. You will be a wonderful husband to my daughter and a wonderful father to that child she's carrying. Welcome to the family Gippal."

Well there goes keeping the baby a secret for at least a little while longer. But it's ok, Vydran did it perfectly and I'm sure no one will really notice.

"And to you Rikku, my Bnchlacc (Princess), I could not be any prouder of you than I already am. My baby girls not so little anymore; already saved the world twice. I realize now that you do not need me to hold your hand anymore. You can stand on your won two feet. And to you I would also like to say sorry. I know at times you thought I was being unfair, what with all the lectures I gave you, and the restrictions that you never followed, but I was never trying to be unfair, I was just trying to protect you. I know now that you don't need protectin'; at least not form me. I know Gippal will do a good job of protecting the both of you, when you nee help. Again congratulations to you both."

I had tears in my eyes, as I stood up and gave my father a huge hug. He was crying too.

"Oh Vydran, I will always need you, maybe not as much," I joked "But I will always be you little girl, the one who looks up to and respects her Vydran. I love you tytto (daddy)"

"I love you too sweetheart."

A/N: well there's chapter 17, and like I said before. I'm taking a break from updating only because I think it's unfair of me to make all you wonderful and loyal reviewers wait like 4 months for the next chapter. I'm going to finish writing it and then I'm gonna finish posting it. I'm hoping it won't take too long. I already have chapter 18 almost finished, I wrote parts of 19 and 20 and I finished the epilogue. So I don't have that long to go. But please stick with me. Tanks so much, and as always please read and review. 


	20. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Chapter 18.

It's been two months since our wedding and the bombings have seemed to stop. I'm now four months pregnant and loving it. I'm finally starting to show, it's not much but it's there. I can no longer wear my thief outfit. I had to go and but maternity clothes. I found a cute little outfit, a long yellow long sleeve shirt and a pair of pale orange pants. It is so cute.

Anyway after the reception we stayed at Home for a few weeks just relaxing before we had to go back to the chaos of the real world, the world beyond married bliss. We basically locked ourselves in our room for those few weeks doing what newly-weds do. My mother had to depart back to the farplane only a few days after the wedding. It was sad but I realized that I was ok with that. I had come to terms with my mothers death, that and the fact that I knew that she was always around and knew what was going in my life helped. I would have loved to have had her stay forever but knew that could not be.

Anyway Gippal and I are staying at Djose. The bombings have seemed to stop. We don't know why, no one really does, maybe the person realized that nothing was being accomplished or what. We're glad but cautious; we know good things like this never last long. We won't be able to completely breathe easy until the culprit is caught.

Right now we're trying to fix up the temple and get the Machine Faction back up and running. We've roped off the entrance to Djose because we didn't want a large group of Al Bhed forming just yet, and we do not want any nosy reporters *cough Shelinda cough ,cough* sneaking in a broadcasting to the world what we were doing. But surprisingly no one seemed to notice the roped off entrance. We later found out that Baralai had released a statement that the investigation at Djose was still taking place and that no one was allowed anyway near the vicinity.

I'm glad that we're fixing up the temple but it is so frustrating considering I can't do any of the fun stuff. Stuff like fixing machina. Instead I'm stuck sweeping, dusting, and the all around cleaning. I know it's for the good of the baby that I don't work with machina, but I want to so bad.

"Are you ok Rikku?" Gippal asked noticing my far away look.

"Yea." I said dropping the rag I had been using to clean the smaller statues and the walls with back into the bucket. "I just _really_ want to work with machina, to do something useful. I know it's for the good of the baby, but still." I said and looked around at the place. Gippal had managed to completely fix the minor mechanical problems and patched up the walls and ceilings so that you could never tell that there was never any damage. But some of the statues of the High Summoners were far beyond repair. We wanted to try to keep the integrity and the history of the temple intact so we were going to ask Baralai if there was anyway we could get new statues commissioned.

"I know you're frustrated sweetie, but in all honesty there's not much the needs fixing." He said, smoothing his hands up my arm. "Why don't we take a break and eat."

"Sure." We walked to his office that also held a mini-fridge stocked with food, usually with foods that I wanted not matter how random it was.

"You know Rikku, I think we're almost done. We could probably re-open next week." He said peeking into the refrigerator to see what we had to eat.

"That's good. This place gets too quiet sometimes." I said walking up behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist, which at this point was not hard but was starting to get a little difficult, with the noticeable bump I had going on.

All of a sudden I felt a pressure against the inside of my abdomen. I gasped lightly as I placed a hand on my stomach. "Did you feel that?" I asked surprised.

"Feel what?" He asked, worried.

"I think the baby just kicked" I said, amazed. I just felt my baby kick, the first real sign of life from my baby.

"It kicked?" He asked, amazed.

"Here give me your hand?" I took his hand and placed it on my stomach, pressing slightly.

We waited a few minutes, holding our breath.

"There did you feel it!?" I asked as it kicked again.

"That was it?" Oh sands Rikku, our baby it kicked, it actually moved. It's real. We're going to be parents. I can't believe it, I mean I can, but this just puts thing into new perspective. I've never really had a real family I could call my own and now I have you, my beautiful loving wife, a wife who's carrying our child, our son or daughter. Rikku, you've given me so much. I don't know how to thank you, I love you so much Rikku." He said as he hugged me to him and kissed me lightly.

"Your love is all I ask for in return." I said, kissing him back.

I placed my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

We stayed that way for a few minutes until the commsphere on the desk started beeping. Since I was leaning against the desk all I had to do was reach behind me and press the button, a little hard to do when your husband starts kissing his way down your neck.

"Gippal. . . Gippal," I gasped "It could be important," I giggled as he pulled away enough for me to turn around and grab the comm-sphere. His arms were still around my waist and he rested his head on my shoulder.

The call was From Besaid. I pressed the button that would connect me to the little island and smiled as Yuna's excited face popped onto the screen.

"Oh Rikku, guess what? Oh hi Gippal."

"Oh gee thanks Yuna. Is that all I get, an "Oh hi Gippal," as an after thought?" He said, mock offended.

Yuna laughed. "I'm sorry Gippal. How are you?"

"Apology accepted. I'm doing pretty good thank you. And yourself?"

"Actually, that's why I called. We finally set a date. I'm getting married in a week, here at Besaid." Yuna Exclaimed.

"Oh Yunie, I'm so happy for you. You're finally getting married."

"I know. Ok I'm going to tell you two a secret and you can't tell anyone. Only Tidus knows."

"We promise," I said.

She looked around her making sure no one was around. "I'm pregnant!!" she exclaimed.

"Oh Yunie! Let me guess, two months?"

"Yea. You were right. When you called me and I was'nt feeling so good, it was morning sickness. I went to the doctors the next day and he confirmed it."

"I'm so happy for you. And am I right in guessing that you don't want to tell anyone so news doesn't get around that you're pregnant out of wedlock? I still can't believe that people are making a huge deal out of it. It happens more times than they realize."

"Yup, that's it. And I know it really is becoming a common occurrence. Well anyway. I'll need to borrow you for a dress fitting. We'll pick you up in say ten minutes?"

"Sounds good Yunie. See you soon." I clicked off the comm sphere and turned back to Gippal.

He gave me a puppy dog look. "Are you gonna leave me all alone?" he asked kissing me.

"Yes, now you can clean today. I'm going to go and have a girls day out," I said as he started kissing his way down my neck and back up. Probably in an attempt to get me to stay. Which I must say was coming very close to working if this was going to be today's activity, his shirtless form was distracting enough.

I tilted my neck back to give him better access, a moan escaping my parted lips. His hands made their way to my waist, pulling me to him forcefully, but gently. His hands played with the hem of my shirt as his tongue invaded my mouth. I had my hands tangled in the hair at the base of his neck as my tongue fought with his.

Things were just starting to heat up when we heard the airship land outside. We pulled apart with chaste kisses as we let our breathing return to normal.

I straightened my shirt and smoothed out any wrinkles that my have been evident.

I kissed Gippal goodbye. "I'll be back later."

"Can't wait."

I walked outside to the familiar sight of my brother's airship. I groaned. Of course he would be the one picking us up. I walked to the door and up the access ramp only to be met by a hyper-active Yuna.

"What took you so long Rikku? I was just about to come and find you."

"I was just saying goodbye to Gippal," I responded with a smile.

"Uh-hu, ok," Yuna replied with a smirk. "Well ready to go?"

"Yup. So where are we going?"

"Luca. I already have my dress. The one I wore with Seymour. It was my mother's and it was meant for me to wear on the day I marry the person I love. So we are going to go and get dresses for everyone else," Yuna said as she led me to the bridge, to where everyone else was waiting, everyone including my brother.

"Rikku, good to see you," Brother said trying to hug me.

I stepped back. "Fryd tu oui Fyhd?" (What do you want?")

He hung his head "E's cunno vun oammehk" (I'm sorry for yelling")

"I'm not sure if sorry is good enough Brother, considering all you have put him through, when the only thing he did was love me. I appreciate the fact that you care for me but what happens between Gippal and I are our problems, not yours. He only did what he did to protect me. So I don't think sorry is good enough and I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"But Rikku. . ."

"No," I said cutting him off. "Look we'll talk about this later. I don't need the stress right now. It's not good for the baby."

Brother turned around dejected and set a course for Luca. We arrived at Luca not five minutes later. Like we did when we picked my dresses, we grabbed a bite to eat. We being Lulu, Paine, Yuna and myself. After we ate lunch we went to the same dress boutique where we got my dresses.

"When we were getting the dress for you wedding I found the dress I wanted to get. I already had the sales lady put the dresses aside. But of course, yours Rikku, will have to be adjusted for your baby bump," Yuna said with a smile.

Yuna walked up to the sales lady and said something to her. The sales lady disappeared and returned a few minutes later with the dresses. The dresses were gorgeous, but I had one concern. "Um Yuna? Red velvet? Won't that be a little hot?"

"Well that's what I thought at first but then I realized that we were going to be on a beach, so it should be just right."

"That makes sense." Each of us took one of the dresses and went into a changing room. The dress was a nice dark red velvet that was floor length and settle nicely at my feet, with no straps and daringly low back. It was really comfortable but definitely snug. It would need adjusting around my stomach and bust areas, but it wasn't too bad.

I stepped out of the dressing room for Yuan to see.

"Wow, Rikku, you look stunning. Wait till you see Paine though," Yuna giggled, as she called over the seamstress.

Paine walked out of the dressing room as the seamstress took the necessary measurements. I nearly died trying in vain to hold back my laughter.

Paine glared at me.

"Oh come on Paine, you have to admit, this dress is so much girlier than my dresses were. You look so pretty. It matches your eyes."

Boy if looks could kill. She just sighed though. "Yuna? Are we done yet?"

I saw Yuna force down a giggle. "Yea, we're done."

Paine was the first one back into the dressing room.

We were all dressed and ready to go within a few minutes when I had the strongest urge for candy.

"Hey let's go get some candy."

"Candy?" Paine asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yea, I have this really sudden urge for candy, and lots of it."

"Well I think we passed a candy store on the way here." Lulu offered.

"Well what are we waiting for?" I practically dragged them out of the store in my haste to get my sugary treat.

Ten minutes later I walked out of the store with a pound of candy in my hands. Yuna, Paine and Lulu each got a lollipop or something small.

"Oooo I just love candy!" I said rocking on the balls of my feet.

"Great, just what we need. A pregnant Al Bhed on a sugar rush.

I just stuck my tongue out at her.

For the next hour or so we all just hung out before we decided to head back to our homes.

                                                         --

I walked off the airship when we arrived at Djose, and I noticed something was off, way off, but I could not put m finger on it. I walked back to the temple cautiously.

Opening the door I looked cautiously looked around. It was a weekend so no one was around.

"Gippal?" I called out hesitantly walking farther into the temple.

He stepped out of his office. "I'm in here."

I followed him in. he sat back at his desk and turned to the comm-sphere; Baralai's face on the other end.

Gippal nodded his head. "Alright. We'll see you in an hour." Baralai's face disappeared a few minutes later.

"Are you going to see Baralai?"

"We both are. I found another note. Here" He said handing me the small piece of paper.

"This is not over

You did not heed my warning

You all prance around Spira as if nothing's happened

My new targets will mix with my old

Be warned. No one's safe. Not even the little princess."

I took in a sharp breath. "This is the first letter directed towards anyone, isn't it?"

Gippal nodded his head slowly. "Yea and since it was directed at you there's no way you're staying here by yourself. Which is why we are both going to see Baralai."

"So how are we going to get there seeing as how your airship is still at Bikanel?"

Gippal just looked at me when suddenly it clicked.

"My brother? But do we really have to?" I whined

"Oh come on Rikku. You have to forgive him eventually."

"No I don't." I knew I was acting just like a whiny little child but I didn't care. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with my brother again.

"Rikku," he said placing his hands on my shoulders. "You know you should. He was only looking out for his little sister."

"Oh alright," I said breaking out of his embrace and grabbing the comm sphere off his desk. Brother picked up a few minutes later.

"Rikku! Listen I really am sorry. I was out of line," He babbled.

I sighed. "It's alright. Do you think you can drop Gippal and I off at Bevelle?"

"Bevelle? Sure no problem, but why do you need to go to Bevelle?"

"Gippal found another note. We are meeting Paine and Baralai to discuss the situation.

He was silent for a few minutes. "Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes."

I turned to Gippal. "Alright. He's on his way." I felt tears starting to gather at the corners of my eyes and tried in vain to hold them back.

Gippal enveloped me in a hug. "It'll be alright. I promise." He paused for a few seconds. "Rikku, one of the things Baralai and I talked about was possibly keeping you in Bevelle with them for the baby's sake and for your own. Now I know you don't like the idea, but please just hear me out. This is the first time a letter has been directed at anyone, and now it's you, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happens. I love you so much. You and the baby are my life. Please just consider it."

I was silent for a moment. "I understand completely how you feel Gippal, I really do, but you have to understand that you and the baby are my life. I couldn't live without you anymore than you couldn't live without me, and if something happened to you, Gippal I would be dead inside, I would raise our child and love it, but it there would always be sadness in my life even though I have the baby as a reminder of you it would never be enough. I know for a fact that I would never remarry. Gippal I need you like a machina need electricity. I don't want our child to grow up without its father Gippal."

"Yes, but if something happens to you too then the baby won't even have a future. Please just at least consider it."

I was silent for a moment. "Alright. I'll consider it."

He nodded solemnly. "Thank you."

The airship landed not minutes later. Brother met us at the landing. "I'm sorry Rikku," He said, hugging me. It was at that time my baby decided to kick.

"Rikku. . . Was that. . . ?" He stammered

I just nodded.

Brother just stood there awestruck. "Oh. OH! Well. Wow. Well, let's get you to Bevelle then." He paused, his eyes showing genuine concern for me and my baby. "Rikku, please be careful.

"I will," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder as I walked onto the airship.

                                                          --

We landed at Bevelle fifteen minutes later. Approaching the High Road we noticed two guards guarding the entrance.

"Halt! No one is allowed to enter without the proper clearance," The first guard said.

"Especially not a pair of Al Bhed," The second guard sneered.

Both of the guards were of muscular build and very tall; at least four inches taller than Gippal and a good seven inches taller than me. When you looked at these men there was no doubt in how skilled they were and that would be intimidating to anyone and in normal circumstances the odds would be against anyone in our position. But Gippal and I were far from normal people. We were Spira's saviors' whether they knew it or not, and my small stature is very misleading to most. I could have defeated them by myself in normal circumstances but since I was pregnant the odds were sadly against me. Thanks to my training in combat and my past experiences I knew that there was a fight coming so I tried to placate them.

"Please, we mean no harm. We're good friends of Baralai. He's expecting us."

The guard slapped me hard across the face and my head snapped to the side. I lost my footing but Gippal caught me before I fell.

"How dare you talk about _**Preator**_ Baralai that way. He would never befriend you Al Bhed scum."

I felt Gippal stiffen in anger behind me. "How dare you!" He snarled. "Don't even know who she is?"

"Gippal, Don't" I said wiping the small trickle of blood from the corner of my mouth.

The guards howled with laughter. "Oh no, please, enlighten us. Who is you _little_ wife?"

I don't really know what was going on. One minute I was trying to keep the peace and the next I was simply furious. I blamed it on the hormones. "That's it! I've had it with you people. What must we Al Bhed do to gain favor in Spira again? And for your information, his 'little wife'" I growled "happens to be one of Spira's saviors. I was Lady Yuna's Guardian, and apart of the team that defeated Vegnangun. I fought alongside Preator Baralai and Meyven Nooj as well as Lady Paine and Gippal fought with us. Gippal is the leader of the Machine Faction. He deserves just as much respect as anyone else," I said fuming

The guards smirked as if finding my little speech quite amusing. "Oh yea, now I see it, but it still doesn't make a difference you're still Al Bhed and you're not getting through."

"Unless," the other one smirked. "If you're really who you say you are then you won't have a problem fighting us. If you both win, you may pass."

"And if we lose? "

The guards smirked. "Let's just say you better not loose."

I saw a look of indecision pass across Gippal's face. "Fine, but she stays out of it."

"Oh no she fight's too or there is no deal and then I can't guarantee what we'll do to either of you."

"Now not that I don't doubt that she couldn't kick both of your asses blind folded, hell she can even kick my ass blind folded, but she stays out of this. She's in no shape to fight," Gippal said, trying to reason with them.

"Not our problem, with any luck there will be one less Al Bhed to deal with. Now enough stalling are we fighting or what?

"Absolutely not!" He growled

"Gippal, it's fine." I said, giving him a look that said 'I have a plan'. I played with the collar of my scarf hoping said plan would work.

"He nodded his head, indecision written all over his face.

I squared my shoulders getting into my fighting stance, my knives poised and ready. "Let's go."

Twin smirks graced their faces as they too fell into their fighting stances, which from what I could tell were sorely flawed, a fact I would have loved to show them if I wasn't pregnant.

Gippal took his stance too. When it came to wielding guns Gippal far surpassed me, I had never really been a fan of either of the gunner dress spheres. Yet when it came to martial arts and using sharp pointy objects, Gippal almost matched me, almost and he had the scars to prove it.

The guards initiated the fight, with the smaller of the two lunging at me. I quickly sidestepped him. He stumbled; surprised by how easily I dodged his attack. I quickly kicked the back of his knees, causing him to fall flat on his face. I straightened out of my crouch to prepare for the next round, when my head and my vision swan. 'Oh no, not now,' I thought stumbling. This pregnancy was making m very tired and very dizzy. I shook my head trying to clear it in time for the guards' next attack. He must have hit his head pretty hard he still did not get up yet. I chanced a glance at Gippal. He was holding his own but was very close to the edge of the bridge.

The next thing I knew my head cracked to the side and I was falling fast to the ground. I wrapped my arms around my middle and twisted at the last second, landing on my back, knocking the wind completely from my lungs. I heard a sickening crack as my head smacked against the ground. They guard was hovering over me landing swift kicks to my ribs. He was wearing steel toed boots as I heard a crack. I screamed out in pain as his kicks fractured my ribs. I blindly searched for my knives, having dropped them in my haste to protect my baby.

Spira I was in so much pain. I rolled over onto my hands and knees wincing all the while, coughing and throwing up blood.

"Rikku!" Gippal shouted as I tried to stand. I quickly doubled over in pain, more blood was spilt on the pristine carpets of Bevelle's High Road. I dimly noted the fact that there was too much blood leaving my system, as vision wavering, I fought to keep consciousness.

"**Enough**!" Paine's commanding voice rang out.

I managed to look up to see Paine running towards us, her blade drawn, with Baralai right behind her.

The guards stood at attention. "Preator Baralai, Lady Paine, there is no need for alarm, we were just taking care of these rough Al Bhed, there is no need to fret, you are in no harm."

Faster than I thought was possible Paine's sword was at my attackers throat. "Who told you to attack these people?" She growled, her red eyes flashing dangerously.

I was on my hands and knees still coughing up small amounts of blood, a sure sign of some kind of internal bleeding, and yet my only concern was for my baby. I could not lose my child, I refused to. The pain in my head and my throbbing ribs was getting worse, as I struggled against the blackness growing at the edge of my vision.

Gippal was still at my side, he had been there since I collapsed. "Rikku, Rikku, honey, look at me, try not to close your eyes. Paine she needs help now."

I'm not really sure what happened next as my strength left me and I succumbed to the welcoming blackness.

                                                         ---

I woke up to the sounds of a very annoying beeping something. I dimly registered the low voices somewhere in the background.

"Ugh," I groaned, shifting a little. Wrong move, pain shot up my sides and my head started throbbing.

"Rikku!? Oh sands Rikku, you're awake. You scared me to death. What the hell were you thinking, fighting them? What the hell was I thinking, letting you fight them? What was you supposed plan, huh." I knew he was angry, but it was based mostly on his of losing me and the baby.

"I'm sorry Gippal, I thought I could at least get away with tripping him up for a while, at least until Paine arrived but I overestimated myself, I'm not as agile as I thought I still was.

"Before the Gullwings broke up we made a pact that we would keep our communicators on in case we ended up by ourselves and in trouble, or if we were in a situation that we couldn't get out of. As soon as I saw the guards I figured a fight would occur and so I switched on my communicator hoping that Paine had her communicator on. I didn't have time to tell you my plan because it would have looked suspicious. I thought we could hold them off until Paine got here, and if Yuna has hers on than she is either already here or she is on her way. I'm sorry Gippal." I paused for a second. "So any word on how that baby's doing?" I was afraid to hear the answer.

The doctors haven't really said anything yet. You've been out for about three hours. The doctors are still doing tests and are waiting for the results.

"Ow…" I moaned as my baby decided to kick my damaged ribs.

"What's wrong? What hurts? Gippal asked, trying to find someway to comfort me.

"My ribs. Our child decided to kick them. Payback I guess. At least we know it's ok. Spira, I hope Yuna gets here soon.

As if on cue Yuna burst through the door.

"Oh Fayth Rikku are you ok?" Yuna asked as she leaned in to hug me.

"Don't. No hugs right now please. I have a couple of fractured ribs. Sorry hugs are off limits until I'm all better.

She giggled slightly. Changing into a white mage she asked, "Would you like me to heal you?"

"Yes please."

Within in a few minutes I felt the cool relief of a Curaga wash over me.

"There you go all better Now can I hug you?"

I laughed at the slight pout that graced her features. "Yes Yuna now you can hug me.

The flood of questions came after the hug. "Are you ok? What happened? Is the baby ok? I heard your transmission. What were you thinking?"

"Whoa Yuna slow down, I'll explain everything just please calm down." Taking a deep breath, which I happily noticed did not hurt, I began. "As far as we know the baby is fine. It decided to kick my damaged ribs earlier. As for what happened, long story short the guards attacked us as we tried to enter Bevelle. I though I could evade them long enough until Paine arrived. I was wrong. I let my guard down and got sucker punched, and from then on, well you can imagine the rest." I closed my eyes still tired form the days exertion.

"Are you ok Rikku,?" Gippal asked.

"Yea, I'm just a little tired."

Just then Paine, Baralai and the doctor walked into the room.

"Hey Rikku, how are you feeling?" Asked Paine.

"Better thanks to Yuna. She used a Curaga on me. It's defiantly easier to breath now."

"Well that's good news. I was going to call in a White Mage for you if you wanted," The doctor told me, checking my charts.

"Thank you, but I'm more worried about the well being of the baby."

"Well then I'm glad to tell you the baby seems to be perfectly fine. But we won't be completely sure until it's born."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"I want to keep you overnight though, just to make sure you don't have any other injuries. You did hit your head pretty hard. Ok?"

"Sure, no problem. Thank you."

Checking my vitals one last time he made a move to leave but stopped at the door. "Lady Paine, may I speak to you for a minute?"

She nodded her head and followed him out of the door.

"So Yunie where's Tidus?"

"Oh well you see when I got your transmission Tidus and I were working out the wedding plans with the priest so I kind of Left him there finish up while I had Brother take me here."

I giggled. "Well maybe you should cal him or something and let him know that everything's ok since you jus left in such a hurry." I paused. "You know if you want you can go back and then come back tomorrow or something. Nothing is going to happen tonight. I appreciate all of the help and all, but you need to get crackin' on those plans missy. Plus I'm sure Tidus is probably having a panic attack trying to plan a wedding all on his own," I said.

"Yea I suppose so."

That's when Paine walked back in with an odd glint in here eyes.

"Everything ok Paine?" Baralai asked.

"Huh? Oh yea, everything's fine." She said clearly distracted by something.

"Well what did the doctor want to talk to you about?"

"Well it was more like he had to tell me something." She paused, and as a complete shock to me, blushed as if she was embarrassed. "Baralai, we're going to have a baby."

Baralai just started at her dumfounded.

" 'Lai, did you hear me?"

He nodded his head and then seemed to snap out of it. "Oh Paine," He said enveloping her in a warm embrace.

                                                       --

After an hour of talking and such everyone had to leave to go get some rest and take care of their respective affairs.

Gippal stood up and stretched. "I'm gonna go use the restroom. Get some sleep and I'll be back soon."

As Gippal walked out one of the nurses walked in. He smiled at me. "Hello Lady Rikku. How are you feeling? Are you in any pain?"

"I'm just a little sore."

"Well let's see if we can fix that," he said as he slipped a needle into my I.V.

"What's that for,?" I asked as I felt my eyelids drooping.

"Just a little something to take the edge off."

And before I knew it I had passed out.

                                             - -Gippal's POV- -

I slowly washed my hands, thinking about what just transpired. Leaning against the sink I looked at my reflection in the mirror, noticing the dark circles that had taken up residence under my eyes. 'Why was this happening? Why can't we just live in peace. Rikku should not be lying in that bed with all of those tubes attached to her. We should not have to have that small seed of doubt in the back of our minds that maybe something did happen to our baby. Something has to be done. I'll have to have chat with Paine and Baralai later.'

I left the bathroom and returned to Rikku's room. Opening the door I discovered that she wasn't there. None of the machines were making any noise, except of course for the heart monitor which was flat-lining.

"Rikku!? I yelled.

I ran out to the nurse's station. "Where is she!" I demanded.

"Where is who sir?" the woman asked confused.

"My wife, the Lady Rikku, where the hell is she!?"

I knew I was being unfair yelling at her like that and I could see that she was getting upset, but at that point I didn't care. M wife and unborn child were missing.

"Wha. . . What do you mean sir? She's not in her room?"

I took a deep breath to try to calm myself.

"No. I went to the bathroom ad when I came back she was gone. Look just call Preator Baralai and Lady Paine. Have them come down here at once."

I turned away and headed back to Rikku's room. I just stared at Rikku's empty bed with a heavy heart. That was when I noticed the note left lying right there on her pillow in plain sight.

                               Darkness

                                All an Al Bhed has known

                                Some seek redemption

                               Others seek a piece of mind

                               If you ever wish to see her again

                               Then you must travel to the darkest place in Spira

                               Darker than even the most darkest pit in Bevellle

                               The place where one of the greatest monsters once dwelled.

A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait but I hope it was worth it. I have chapter 19 all ready to go with just one problem. My laptops mouse isn't working and seeing asi have Vista on my laptop and no where else I couldn't transfer it any where, But don't worry I hope to have it up soon. As always please review. I tried my hardest to make this chapter my best on yet.


	21. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Ugh" I groaned as I slowly regained consciousness. My vision swam as I opened my eyes. I blinked a few times trying to clear my vision. Confused that I still could not see anything, I raised my head from the dropped forward position it was currently in. I winced as my neck protested the movement. I must have been out for a while. Picking my head up, I realized, did me no good, I still could not see. I tried to move to rub my eyes but to my dismay found that my arms were bound together behind some stone column. I was tied to the column with my knees up to my chest and my ankles were also tied. I had been kidnapped and I had no idea by whom. The last thing I remembered was the nurse giving me pain meds or now that I think about it, probably a very powerful sleeping drug.

"Help! Somebody please help me."

The only response I got was a cold maniacal laugh.

I was cold, scared, and, it seemed, to be in the hands of a crazed lunatic with no way out.

Gippal's --- POV

"Cred!" I cursed as I ran out of Rikku's room and toward the elevator that would take me to Paine and Baralai. I slapped my hand against the button panel anxiously waiting for it to open.

Nothing. "Come on, come on," I whispered frantically pushing the button.

The door finally opened and out walked Paine and Baralai.

I don't know what happened but at that moment I finally lost it.

I collapsed on to my knees and buried my head my hands. "She's gone 'Lai, she's gone. I don't know what to do. What if something happens to her and the baby? What am I going to do? I can't live without her." I vaguely noted that I was crying but it was a trivial fact that I ignored.

I felt Baralai place a hand on my shoulder. "It'll be ok Gippal. We'll find them. I promise."

"But what if we don't 'Lai? What if we can't find them? What if we're too late? I can't lose her, not now."

I felt Baralai merely shrug his shoulders at a loss of what to say.

"Get up Gippal," Paine drawled.

Something in the tone of her voice made me look up. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Get up off of the damn floor. You look pathetic."

"Well excuse me for showing emotion. I thought you were her friend Paine. I would have thought that even you would break your stoic shell and show a little emotion for your friend. I guess I was wrong. You are just as frigid as when we were in the Crimson squad, if not more. Excuse me for caring about my wife," I spat, standing up and squaring my shoulders.

The next thing I knew Paine grabbed me by the neck and slammed me against the wall, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Never **ever** make the assumption that you are the only one who cares, the only one that gives a damn about Rikku and that child she is carrying. She's my best friend, and one of the few to ever really give a damn about me, to really accept me, the real me besides you guys of course. She never questioned me when I wanted to join the Gullwings. Yes she is inquisitive and annoying but I know it is all good natured. As for me being _**frigid**_," Paine growled "I'm pregnant aren't I? More importantly I've learned that crying and whining in a situation like this doesn't do anyone any good, especially the one you're trying to save. Didn't the Crimson Squad teach you anything? Emotions only cause you to lose your head and your focus, and that fatal error could cost you not only your life, but RIkku's and the baby's as well. Now do you really want that?"

I shook my head no.

"I love Rikku like a sister and I will kill the son of a bitch that harms her," She growled.

"Paine, let him go," Baralai said soothingly, laying a hand on her shoulder.

I took her a second and with one last glare my way she let go, and from the look in her eyes nothing would have given her more pleasure at that moment than for me to fall to the ground in a heap.

But I landed on my feet and fixed my collar, returning her glare with one of my own as I got my breathing back in order, after having my air pipes crushed. I forgot how strong she was. I turned to Baralai. "So what are you guys doing here anyway? It's late."

"Well we got the message from the nurse, and we got a transmission from Cid. Dravidian escaped from the hospital. The staff tried to stop him. While they were doing final testing to make sure he was recovering ok, they noticed a strange blip in his read outs. They later found out, the hard way of course, that he has some violent tendencies resulting from his mental condition. When they tried to stop him from leaving, he fought them off. A few of the staff got hurt but none of them were seriously injured. The nurses said he kept mumbling the same sentence over and over again. They had no idea what he meant or why he kept saying the same thing, but they said it sounded like he was saying something along the lines of "Got to get rid of. . ." But what he had to get rid of they don't know. Cid believes that he is or rather was after Rikku," Baralai replied.

"And it looks like he got her," I mumbled. I took the note out of my pocket. "He left this, any idea what it means?

They both looked it over for a few minutes, studying it. Shaking their heads no, Baralai handed me back the note. "I have no idea,"

"Neither do I," Paine responded.

I sighed. "Great now what?"

"Why don't you go take a shower or something, relax and then try calling Yuna. She might know something."

I was reluctant to take any kind of break, especially to 'relax', but I knew that if I was to find Rikku I would need a clear head.

"Alright."

They led me to the same room Rikku and I shared before. I decided a shower would do me some good, and so twenty minutes later I was showered and sitting on the couch with my comm- sphere in my lap getting ready to punch in Yuna's coordinates, taking a few deep calming breaths.

I had only to wait a few minutes for Yuna to pick up.

"Gippal! Hi! How are you?"

I sighed. "Not so good Yuna. I need your help and please try not to panic. I'm trying my hardest to keep it together. It's not working so well so I need at least one of us to be calm."

"Gippal, what's wrong?" The worry was evident in her voice and I almost couldn't bring myself to say it out loud.

"Rikku's been kidnapped. We think we know who did it, but we don't know for sure, and we don't know where they are. They only clue we have is a very vague cryptic note."

I watched her face carefully and it was easy to see why the people wanted her as their new leader. I saw a myriad of emotions flash across her face, fear, panic, worry, just to name a few, right before the diplomatic Yuna flashed into place.

She nodded her head once. "What did the note say?"

I didn't even need to take the note out of me pocket to tell her what it said. They words seemed to burn in my mind like the note burned in my pocket. It was just sting there as if it was silently willing me to decode the secret location.

"Darkness

All an Al Bhed has known

Some seek redemption

Others seek a piece of mind

If you ever wish to see her again

You must travel to the darkest corner of Spira

Darker than the darkest Dungeon in Bevelle

The place where one of Spira's greatest monsters once dwelled."

Yuna sat there for a few minutes contemplating the note when her face suddenly paled.

"What? Yuna, what's wrong?"

"I know where she is," She all but whispered.

"Well? Where is she? Yuna? Damn it! Tell me where my wife is? Please Yuna where's Rikku?"

"Have you ever heard of a place called the Omega Ruins?"

I thought for a moment. "No. Should I have?"

"No I suppose not. The Omega Ruins was or is, I suppose I should say, is a very dark labyrinth that has cliff endings that are impossible to see. One minute you could be walking down a path and the next you're falling to your death. Also it's teeming with some of Spira's most powerful fiends. They were some of the strongest we ever faced. I had thought the ruins had collapsed when we defeated Sin. During our two years sphere hunting we could never find it. But it seems whoever did this did their homework. He must have found it and excavated it. Gippal if Rikku is there then she is in grave danger. Am I right in assuming she has absolutely none of her dresspheres or any kind of weapon on her?"

I could only nod. "To my knowledge she has nothing on her. Her knives got knocked away during the fight. Paine collected them when we brought her to the hospital. She still has them if I'm not mistaken."

"I'll help you find her then. I know what to expect and how to fight them."

"Thank you Yuna but I can't let you do that. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you or if any harm came to the baby. I would never be able to look Tidus in the face ever again. You're just like Rikku. She always wanted to help when she shouldn't. I know you're Spira's savior," I said before she could protest. "But this is something completely different from an unsent evil priest and a giant monster and it is nothing like defeating a giant machina also controlled by an evil unsent. This is a mentally unstable person and is, to a certain degree, even more dangerous, as I said before, than a celestial monster and a large machine. Too many people attacking him and he might do something rash, something that can harm Rikku and the baby or anyone else. At least with one person there is a chance to reason with him."

I knew Yuna could see that I was right and it was killing her to even admit it to herself, but I could also see her struggling against her familial ties to Rikku that were telling her to go charging ahead and rescue her.

Yuna closed her eyes. "Alright. But I swear to all that is holy Gippal, if you don't call for backup when you need it and something happens to my cousin or her baby I will kill you myself," her voice steely and her eyes hard.

I was stunned. Sweet, peaceful, Yuna actually threatened my life and I could see that she meant every word.

"I promise."

"Good."

"Thank you Yuna. I mean it. I never would have found her in time if not for you, and I will call if I need backup, I promise you that."

She nodded. "I'll put everyone on alert. We'll have the media and news casters on alert also in case I'm wrong, or in case it's just a distraction and he's been sighted somewhere else. Plus even if he is there at least he can't get very far without being caught."

"Sounds good. Thank you so much Yuna." I reached over to turn off the comm-sphere but she stopped me.

"Gippal please bring her back. She's the last of the family I have left. I don't want to lose her, or you for that matter, please be safe."

"I will Yuna. I give you my word."

She nodded and turned off her comm-sphere.

I clicked mine off as well setting it to the side as I rested my head in my hands. Great so Rikku was trapped in some death trap labyrinth with thousands of powerful fiends ready to kill her at the first wrong move she makes and with no way to defend herself. Wonderful. Oh then there's the problem of finding the damn place. If it really collapsed in on itself like Yuna said it did it was going to be next to impossible to find it. I should have asked Yuna if she remembered the coordinates, probably not though.

I sighed, getting up off of the couch.

That was when I heard the knock at the door. "Come in."

Paine and Baralai walked in.

"How are you feeling Gippal? Any better?" Baralai asked.

"No not really. Rikku is still missing. But at least I know where she is. It's just a matter of getting to her."

"Where is she and why can't you use the airship to get to her?" Paine questioned.

"She's in a place called the Omega Ruins and according to Yuna it's basically a death trap cave; dead ends, pitfalls and dangerous fiends up the yin yang. Apparently the entrance to the ruins caved in during the fight with Sin. Yuna said she tried looking for it while she was still with the Gullwings, but Buddy could never find it. And I have no idea how to find it myself."

"Why don't you ask Cid? Even though Brother has the Celsius I think Cid still has the original Sphere – Oscillo finder, and if my memory serves me right, that thing holds all of the coordinates of the places the ship has been," Suggested Paine.

"That might just work." I grabbed the comm-sphere and called Cid.

It connected almost immediately. "Rikku!?"

"No, sorry Cid, it's just me."

"Is Rikku there with you? Dravidian escaped and he was going after. . ." He trailed off seeing the look on my face. "He got her didn't he?"

I could only nod; my head now in my hands.

Cid growled. "Damn it Gippal, you were supposed to protect her. You promised to keep my little girl safe. What kind of father are you going to be if you can't even keep your wife safe? I outta kill you, you little bastard. . ."

I let Cid rant on for a few minutes, each insult biting into me like the bite of a Coureal. The Father comment hurt the most though. I deserved it though, I deserved all of it. I had failed to keep Rikku safe, I promised nothing would happen to her. . .

"Cid that's enough," Paine said forcefully but quietly. "He feels bad enough as it is. It's not his fault."

Cid was about to protest.

"No Paine, he's right. I failed to protect Rikku, I couldn't protect my family. Which is why I'm going to go alone to rescue her. I messed up so I'm going to be the one to set things right."

"Gippal have you lost your mind, you cannot go alone…"

I cut her off. "I can and I will. I already had this conversation with Yuna. If I need backup I'll definitely call ok?"

Boy if looks could kill I would be beyond dead, more like eaten by a Sand Worm dead. I'm pretty sure that Baralai, and Paine's love for Rikku, were the only two things keeping her from beheading me or making me suffer in some other painful manner.

It was Cid, though who answered. "Very well. Is there anything we can do for now?"

"Yes, Cid do you still have the original sphere-oscillo finder form the Celsius?"

"Well yea, but how is that going to help?"

"If Paine is right it holds the coordinates to Rikku's location. Do you have it handy?"

"Of course. I always keep it with me. It's the only part of my original ship Brother hasn't managed to destroy."

"Good I need you to look up the coordinates of the Omega Ruins. That's where Rikku is being held."

The look on Cid's dace worried me. If the name of that place caused that look to appear on our elders face then I had no doubt that this was not going to be easy and that Rikku was in more danger than I had originally thought.

"Alright give me a sec. . . Got 'em."

"Good. I need you to send them to my airship. I'll need Brother to take me to Djose and from there I'll take my airship to the Ruins. I'll need Brother to be on standby with everyone who is willing and able to help is case I need to call for backup."

Cid nodded solemnly. "Alright, I'll send him right over."

"Have him land behind the main building. We have a landing pas out back for airships delivering supplies into the city. No one should suspect a thing."

"He'll be there soon."

I nodded my response and disconnected my commsphere; the screen going blank. The room was eerily silent with no one knowing what to say.

"Gippal, are you sure you want to do this alone? No one will think less of you if you ask for help." Paine asked. I could tell she was silently pleading for me to change my mind.

"This isn't about my ego Paine. This is about saving Rikku. If too many people come at one time is might make him panic and do something drastic. If it's just me, one little person it will seem like less of a threat, something he can handle. If I need to I will call for backup. Paine keep your communicator turned on. Hopefully we can use it to our advantage. I will call for help. I promise."

Reluctantly they all nodded. "All right let's get you to the loading docks. Shouldn't Brother be here soon?"

"Yea, let's go."

Brother was already there when we got to the docks. He was leaning against the side of his ship.

"Brother," I said in greeting.

"Gippal. . . E's Cunno."

"It's alright Brother."

He looked thoughtful for a second. "Where is my sister?" He tried in Broken Spirian.

I sighed suddenly weary again. "She's been kidnapped by Dravidian."

He nodded, absorbing the information. "I just have one question? Why did Dravidian kidnap my sister?"

"I think Brother, that that would be a question better answered by your father."

He just merely nodded again.

--

The ride to Djose only took ten minutes and was ready to take off. Brother was off collecting everyone that would be able to help us save Rikku and I had restocked my supply of bombs, retrieved my faithful gun and ammo and I had a very tiny but very powerful gun hidden in my boot just in case.

Currently I was sitting in the pilot's seat preparing to take off. I had gone through every scenario my mind could think of trying to prepare myself.

Exhaling in punched in the coordinates to the Omega Ruins.

"Hold on Rikku. I'm coming."


	22. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Ok let's review shall we? I was cold and alone, and let's not forget scared out of my mind, both for myself and my baby, in a dark, damp cave like place that was oddly familiar and for the life of me I couldn't figure out where I was.

And of course let's not forget the cold maniacal laugh I heard not moments before.

"Show yourself!" I shouted, my fear momentarily forgotten.

The figure stepped out of the shadows, laughing.

My eyes widened in shock as I gasped, "You! I knew it. You lying son of a bitch, it was you all along."

"My, my. What colorful language for a princess and heir to the Al Bhed throne."

"Oh spare me your noble thoughts you sick bastard. It was you; you did kill all of those people."

"On the contrary princess. I have never killed anyone in my life. . . Yet." Dravidian smirked, brandishing a gun.

"Oh well, excuse me for not believing you, but I don't tend to believe people who hold me at gunpoint." I was sitting up straight, or as straight as a person can be when tied to a stone column, glaring at the person I have the misfortune of calling family.

"True, I suppose that the situation does seem a bit misleading. But make no mistake princess. I haven't killed anyone. You will be my first and only victim, and by the time you body is found, hmm if it's ever found, the evidence will be far too old to process, and there would be no way to prove it was me." He shrugged as if to say 'oh well sucks for you'. It was as if he had no compassion. He talked about murder as if it was the weather.

I still didn't believe him about not killing anyone, but I couldn't dwell on that fact I had to try something. I had to try to reason with him. It wasn't just my life on the line anymore, it was my child's too, and I'd be damned if it let anything happen to it.

I was silent for a moment, contemplating my next words carefully. "Maybe, but could you really do it? Killing me is one thing. But killing an innocent unborn baby is another."

"Any child born to parents such as you and Gippal can not be called innocent." He said, eyes hardening.

"Then how can you call yourself innocent? I mean considering the way you were conceived. You claim that the sins of the parents are transferred to the child, well then you're one to talk." I was frustrated, and angry. There seemed to be no reasoning with him, I was so scared. The only thing I could hear was the pounding of my heart, and his voice, my own sounded hollow to my ears. I was trying to think of a way out, but my mind was still foggy, the effects of the sleeping powder not fully worn off.

"I never claimed to be innocent, just not guilty."

"Fine, but tell me, what sins have Gippal and I committed that would transfer to our baby? We have done nothing wrong. We both have saved the world. So pray tell, what sins do Gippal and I posses that would taint our child?" I sat there with a haughty expression on my face, eyebrow raised, head held up high, trying so desperately to mask the fear that was ever present.

"You and your family are the reason I'm like this. I'm sure you know that I was a sickly child, and as such had to move to the main land of Spira with my mother to get the medical attention that I needed. The trauma of never knowing my father, never fitting in anywhere because of what I was, and then finding out that Cid had another family, his acknowledged family, made me feel that I wasn't worth anything, that I was a failure, something not even my father could love, put me into a poor state of mental health."

"That doesn't give you an excuse for killing people! We've all lost people we love and have had to go through some horrible things during the time of Sin. I lost my mother when I was very young. I never had her to teach me the things mothers are supposed to teach their little girls, and my father, he abandoned me for two years after Sin's defeat. I help get rid of Sin, and he abandons me."

He continued as if he didn't hear me. "And then, when I had finally just recovered, had just come to terms with everything, even starting my own chain of restaurants, starting my life over again, after. . ." He looked away for a moment as if remembering some far off memory. "Well that's not important anymore. Then the bombings started, and you come along sniffing you nose where it doesn't belong, because you have to go and play hero every chance you get, and it just resurfaced old memories, all of the anger and hatred for Cid came back, just as strong as they used to be."

"Gippal doesn't even know his parents. He was raised by all of the Al Bhed. Do you know how impersonal that it is? To not have one single person you are closer to than others, to not have parents always there to love you and dote on you? And what about Yunie? She's half Al Bhed, and orphaned. You don't see here running around killing innocent people. Instead she tried to kill herself to save the rest of us."

I could tell he really didn't like me interrupting him. He was getting anxious , like he really wanted to get on with this and put it past him. He was pacing back and forth waving the gun around as if it was nothing. Spira I had to find a way out of this. I could not die this way. I've saved Spira twice! There was no way I was going to die at the hands of a psycho. Come on Rikku think. There has to be some way out of this.

He continued on, like saying all of this, all of what happened to him was the most important thing right now. "I eventually realized that I was reverting back to my poor mental state and as such decided to check my self into a hospital. I decided to go to the one on Bikanel, hoping that maybe I could also have a talk with Cid, maybe at last straighten things out, after all that was what my therapist suggested I do."

I shifted, positions not really paying attention to what he was saying anymore, trying to figure out some way out of this, when I felt the rope that was binding my hands shift slightly. I tried not to let my emotions show through, I was excited, if I could loosen these ropes enough I could get my hands out and try to escape.

"Though when I got there something just outside of Home attacked me. Not long after, you came charging into my room already convinced I was the culprit before you had a chance to hear my side of the story. Your anger is what made me realize what I had to do. I had to get rid of you, hurt Cid almost as much as he hurt me. See I know the pain of losing a child and so I knew that, that would be adequate revenge. I knew Cid and I would probably never be a real family so I had nothing to lose."

That stopped me. Dravidian knew the pain of losing a child? He had a family? I growled to myself. Pops was keeping more things secret than he let on. That explains his rush for grandchildren I suppose. I filed this piece of information away, hoping to use it as plan B if push came to shove.

He noticed my look of surprise and smirked but the emotion never reached his eyes. "You seem surprised Princess. Yes I had a family, and yes it was destroyed, I lost everything that was important."

He paused for a second, forehead creased in some painfully memory.

"Now nothing matters to me and I will probably never return to a healthy state of mind, but I can't see any other way out. You and your baby would be a constant reminder of what I lost. Actually your whole family is a constant reminder but that would be over kill, don't you think?"

"Look, Dravidian, I agree what our father, Layla, and my mother did was not the best choice. You should have had the chance to grow up with your father, but they were young, and didn't know what to do. They thought they were doing what was best for you. But that's not my fault, and all of the evidence pointed to you. What did you expect me to do? Turn the other cheek because you're my brother? I can't do that. I don't like the thought of it, but people have been killed. I would convict vydran if I thought he was behind it. But you're right I could have handled it differently, I shouldn't have gone charging in like I did, and for that I'm sorry. But I was worried for my baby Dravidian, I wasn't thinking clearly. All I want is to see my child born into a safe world, and to raise it and watch it grow up with Gippal at my side. Do you think I want this? A life where I constantly have to look over my shoulder in fear, a fear not just for myself but for my baby as well?" I realized that I was crying and couldn't stop. All of the feelings that I had been trying to repress came out. All of the hurt, anger and confusion, and the sense of betrayal all stung and I felt like I couldn't breath, I tried keeping it cool, but I just wasn't working. My hormones were working against me and there was nothing I could do.

I could see that my emotions were getting to him. "Please Dravidian, let me go." I whispered.

I could se him warring with his thoughts, deciding whether or not to let me go. Just when it seemed he was going to lower his gun the caves shook. He turned to me with a sharp expression. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, I swear." I tried to see through the dust and the blinding light of the explosives did nothing to reveal my place of capture. I just saw stone columns and stone walls everywhere I thought I saw other paths leading to other places but it was all too fast. I couldn't see much.

"Rikku!" I heard someone shout.

"Liar! You called backup somehow didn't you?!" He shouted pointing the gun back at me, showing no signs at all of backing down. His eyes were manic, any trace of reachable emotion was gone. There was a very good chance that he would kill me now and I could do nothing about it unless I got out of these ropes.

"No, Dravidian, I swear, I have no idea what's going on."

The dust cleared. "Rikku!" It was Gippal. He'd come to save to me.

"Gippal!"

I was dizzy with emotion. I felt like a giggling girly pre-teen again, Gippal, my husband, my hero come to save the day, and yet his timing left much to be desired. At this rate Dravidian was never going to trust me, I had just about gotten him to lower his weapon when Gippal came. I had no idea what was going to happen next. I just knew that it wasn't going to be good.

"Dravidian, put down the gun, or I swear I'll shoot," Gippal threatened, brandishing his mecha weapon.

"No I don't think I will." Dravidian mused. He waved the gun. "I have no problem with death, and anyway what's to keep you from shooting me after I lower my weapon?"

"My word."

"Hmmm, nope, sorry not good enough. Now lower your weapon before I shoot your wife."

I could see the look of indecision in Gippal's eyes. If he shot Dravidian then there was still the chance that I would get shot, and that could possibly kill the baby. Yet if he put the gun down there was still the chance of making it out alive, or he could just shoot us booth. Gippal slowly lowered he weapon to the floor and raised both hands.

Dravidian sneered and kicked the gun to the shadows and out of sight. "Now I suggest you go kneel by your wife and keep your hands where I can see them.

Gippal did as he was told. "Are you okay?" he whispered.

"Yes," I sighed, trying to figure a way to get us out of this mess.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'll tell you later."

"Rikku," he growled.

"I promise I'm fine."

"Now where were we," Dravidian started.

"You were letting us go," I tried sweetly.

"No, nice try though. Now as I was saying by the time your bodies are found, if they ever are, the evidence will be far to old to process, and this will be they only murder I ever commit. . . and probably get away with."

"Dravidian please, Gippal's arrival changes nothing. I didn't call him or any one else to come and rescue me."

"You can't honestly sit there and tell me that you didn't want, didn't hope someone would come and rescue you," he sneered.

"Well of course I did, that's human nature. It shows I have a healthy sense of self preservation, but Dravidian you're my brother."

"_Half_- Brother," He interrupted.

"Half is better than nothing. You're still a part of my family. I want to get to know you. I _am_ sorry I accused you of the bombings, all of the evidence did point to you. If you let us go we can help you clear your name, find the person who framed you. Please, don't you want to know your little niece or nephew, to get to know pops? He does love you, he loves you a lot Dravidian. He didn't mean to hurt you, he was trying to protect you. He thought he was doing what was best for you."

I could see that my promise of a family was starting to get through to him. That's all he ever really wanted.

The gun lowered a bit.

"Do you promise? Vydran doesn't hate me?"

He looked and sounded so much like a lost little boy that at that moment I just wanted to reach out and hug him.

I felt Gippal stiffen next to me, holding his breath hoping my pleas would get through to him.

"Oh Dravidian, vydran could never hate you. You're his son."

"And I could get to know the baby?" The gun lowered even more.

"Of course. You could visit him or her and play with the baby anytime you like. Right Gippal?"

"Of course Ddravidian, you're family. You could visit anytime you want." Gippal said. I wasn't quite sure if he meant it, and was worried that Dravidian would feel the same. But he didn't. It worked.

The gun dropped to the floor and Dravidian fell to his knees with it.

Gippal used Dravidian's breakdown to untie me.

Kissing me quickly he said "You okay?"

"Perfect."

Dravidian was sobbing silently still on his knees not all that far from me.

Untying my ankles I walked over to him and kneeled down wrapping my arms around him. He returned the embraced while he continued sobbing into my shoulder.

"Rikku… I'm… Sorry."

"Shhh, it's okay my pnudran. No damage was done."

It's funny how one second can change everything. One second my brother is trying to kill me, the next I've accepted him as a part of my family and he's sobbing in my arms.

One second changes everything.

A/N: i am so sorry it took me this long to update, i was trying to make it the best chapter i could. That and i haven't had much time to write. So i really don't know when the next chapter will be up. I just wanna say thanks to Pretty Goth Girl for helping me edit, and thanks to everyone for sticking with me thus far.


	23. Chapter 21

I heard the gunshots but my brain couldn't process it. Could not process the blood seeping through my shirt or the searing pain in my arm. . . the almost lifeless body of my brother, slowly dying in my arms.

"No. . . no Dravidian please, don't die, you can't die now. You have to get to know pops, to get to know your little niece or nephew. Please Dravidian. I know Brother would just love to get to know you, he would love someone to scheme with… please."

My shoulders were shaking and my cheeks were tear-stained. I could do nothing but hold my brother in my arms and I couldn't stand that. I hate being so helpless. I hate watching anyone die, especially family and it made it worse that it was happening in my arms.

My arm was throbbing but I didn't have time to worry about that. Dravidian blinked a couple of times as if he was trying to clear his vision. He opened his mouth to say something but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a wet gurgling sound as blood trickled down the side of his mouth.

"No, don't say anything; you need to conserve your energy. Gippal! He's dying." I shouted as I looked up at my husband. "Call back up or something."

I finally noticed what was really going on when Gippal didn't answer right away. Gippal was standing in front of us with his legs spread and a spare gun held out in front of him aimed at someone I could not fully see.

"Now's not exactly a good time." He murmured distractedly.

I shifted my position to get a better view of the man standing in front of Gippal. The man was unquestionably Spirian. The old look of hatred for all things Al Bhed burned brightly in his eyes. Staring at him I realized that he looked familiar, that I somehow knew this stranger. I just couldn't think, my mind was shut down trying to protect itself from truly comprehending my situation.

"Do you at least have any potions on you?"

I heard Gippal growl deep in his throat. "If I did, I would have used one on you a long time ago."

"What? Wh…Ahhhh!" I tried to move my hair out of my face when a searing pain shot through my arm. Two shots, two injuries, while one bullet only clipped my arm, the other buried itself in my brother's chest, slowly killing him.

My injury wasn't all that fatal but if left unchecked for too long could be very dangerous, yet Dravidian's wound would almost certainly kill him slowly and very painfully. The wound was right below the heart. I couldn't think of any way to save him besides taking him to the hospital, which right now was impossible.

Silent tears dripped down my face. "Dravidian….No."

He opened his eyes again, and…smiled. He was smiling. "It's… okay. I deserve this."

"Don't say that!" I Hissed. "No one deserves this, and especially not you."

He coughed and more blood trickled out of his mouth. "I took you hostage; I was going to kill you and the baby."

"I don't care, that doesn't mean you have to die, especially like this."

I had forgotten how much it hurt to lose someone. I hadn't felt this much pain since my mother died. My chest was so constricted I could barely breathe.

"I'll finally be free from all of the pain." He tried to reason. He paused for a moment, drawing in a ragged breath. "Have you and Gippal thought of names yet?"

"What?" I asked completely thrown off guard.

"For the baby." He was breathing really heavily; he didn't have much time left.

"No… Not yet."

"Would it be too much to ask a favor?"

"Of course not, anything you want.

"If…If it's a girl, can you name her Amnara?"

Amnara. Hmm it was a pretty name. "Of course, and if it's a boy we'll name him after you."

He gave me a weak smile. "You really don't have to."

"But I want to… I love you Dravidian."

"I love you too. Tell my sudran and Ci… vydran that I love them."

"You can tell them yourself." I cried.

"Promise me Rikku." It seemed as if he could see into my soul, the way his eyes were boring into mine, pleading with me to promise him.

"I promise."

With one final painful shuddering breath, the brother that I barely got to know died in my arms, his blood soaking my shirt.

I was in my own world. It took me a moment to realize that Gippal and the armed stranger were talking very heatedly.

"You!" Gippal hissed, anger and recognition laced his voice.

"Very good Gippal, you finally figured it out. Though I must admit I am a little hurt that you didn't realize I was missing, or did I do such a good job of convincing you that Dravidian" He sneered "Was the bomber that killed all of those poor innocent people."

It was something in the tone of the man's voice that angered me. I gently laid my brothers body on the ground and stood up facing Gippal and the armed stranger.

"What did he do?" I growled with tears threatening to spill. "What did he do to deserve this? What is Spira's name could be so horrible that you had to kill all of those people and frame Dravidian? Why did you kill my brother?" I screamed.

"Rikku…" Gippal started.

"No, I wanna know what the hell Dravidian did to deserve this? To be killed so cruelly" I snarled. I was so angry. I had never felt this type of hurt before. Maybe it was because my brother had died in my arms, died thinking that he deserved his untimely end, but I was mad and I wanted answers and I wanted them now.

"Oh now you defend your brother. You, who were so quick to accuse him, were so sure that he was the one to kill all of those people and was the one who attacked your father." He laughed, finding the situation amusing, and oh was it an ugly laugh. A cold laugh devoid of all emotion and feeling.

"I only blamed him because of you, you bastard." It was aggravating that I couldn't place him, he was so familiar. I scanned his face trying to figure out where I knew him from. The answer hit me literally like a ton of bricks, I felt dizzy and short of breath as recognition hit me. "You… You're the inn keeper at Djose. But I thought you were killed. Your body was never found…" I trailed off.

That damn smirk never left his face. "That's because right after I let Cid in I left to go put my plan in motion. You Al Bhed scum need to be wiped out once and for all. You've caused way too many problems in our past to be left alive. You people have ruined my life." He was visibly shaking now and the gun was wobbling very unsteadily and since he had Gippal's gun, the one Dravidian kicked to the shadows, he was very dangerous. He composed himself "So you see I decided to attack the temple on a day where there would be more Spirians than Al Bhed, just to stir things up. You see things like this take time and careful planning. That's where attacking the elite of Spira who were also know Al Bhed haters came in handy to fuel the fire. I knew you two with your nosy natures would try and stop "the bad guy" so I decided to add a little twist, and what better way to do that then to up root the Al Behd's strength than to take out the favored princess of the Al Bhed and her husband. I mean lets face it, we all know with that brother of yours in charge the Al Bhed would never survive. So I decided to frame Dravidian, knowing of his tormented past. See I did a little digging on the little home wrecker's past and knew my plan was virtually fool proof. The only little flaw was the idiot's weakness for a family. I will give you credit for one thing. I never expected you to forgive him so quickly, but of course you go and ruin my plans and offer him just that. Dravidian was supposed to kill the both of you and then I was going kill him and no one would have been the wiser. I would have made his death look like a suicide, like he felt guilty for killing his family and so killed himself instead of living with the guilt." He sighed. "Oh well I'll just have to kill you both myself."

He pointed the gun at Gippal and everything seemed to happen all at once. Two shots were fired. I saw the inn keeper stumble backwards but my attention was on Gippal. His gun fell to the floor as his left shoulder jerked backwards throwing him off balance; he crashed to the floor, a rose colored stain quickly spreading over his shirt.

"Gippal!" I shouted, dropping down on my knees next to him.

He moaned and tried to move. "No Gippal, don't move please."

He ignored me and reached towards the collar of his shirt. "Help." He murmured into his collar, which I realized held a communicator. He looked at me. "I…I'm sorry." He whispered before falling unconscious.

"No, Gippal Wake up please, Gippal. Open your eyes. Come on! Damn it. Gippal please." I cried. I couldn't do this. Why was this happening? This wasn't supposed to happen. I've already saved Spire I've been through my fair share of suffering. Why wouldn't this end?

"Hahahaha. Touching princess, real touching. But I doubt your husband can hear you, and by the looks of things he'll be in the farplane soon enough." He said all of this with a smirk. The bastard found all of this funny.

My arm was throbbing and steadily dripping blood, my legs felt weak, my head was spinning, and my chest hurt from the whirlwind of emotions that was swarming my body, the strongest one; fear. The fear that I would lose my husband for good, that I would die, that my child wouldn't even have a chance at life. All I wanted to do at that moment was to give up. To just let him kill me and end all of this. But I couldn't do that. I had too many people depending on me. I stood up and wiped the tears that had been steadily falling out of my eyes and off my cheek.

Turning around to face my attacker I noticed that he wasn't injured in the slightest but he did have a nasty bruise that was forming right below his eye where the guns recoil hit him. From what I could tell when he fired the gun the recoil was too great , smacking him in the face with the butt of the gun with enough force to move him far enough out of the way that Gippal's shot just missed him.

I straightened my posture, squaring my shoulders and holding my high, ignoring the way my head swam from blood loss. That's when I noticed movement from the corner of my eye, fiends. They were gathering at the smell of blood. I knew it wouldn't be too much longer before they attacked. I could only think of one way out of this. The only way out of this it seemed was for me to play dead. Which at the rate I was going might not be too hard. I was already fighting to stay on my feet. Putting my plan into motion I slowly sank back down on my knees and finally lay flat on my back, acting as if the pain of my wound and the stress had finally taken its toll on me.

I heard him chuckle lightly. "Well that didn't take too long. That was easier then I thought princess. I was expecting some kind of fight, especially form Spira's savior. I'm not even injured and soon you'll all be dead, just like your brother." He chuckled darkly. "The all of this will finally be over and I can get beck to my life.

It was now or never. I closed my eyes and relaxed every part of my body.

"Well, well, dead already. What a pity. I was looking forward to having more fun with you." He kneeled down next to me to check whether I was really dead or not. When he was close enough I quickly kicked out the back of his knees and pushed him up and over me… and over the ledge that was right behind us. His shocked screams echoed through the rough cavern as his gun clattered to the floor.

I slowly sat up, breathing heavily. That required more energy than I had. As the adrenaline started to fade I took stock of the situation. My arm was still slowly dripping blood and I knew I had to stop it somehow. Using what energy I had and the hole from the bullet wound I tore off the rest of my sleeve and used it as a bandage.

I stood up willing my body to hold out just a little longer so I could figure out where I was and how to get Gippal and myself out of here. I looked around me, slowly surveying the area and the surrounding fiends, desperately trying to will my foggy mind to remember this place.

The Omega ruins. That's where I was. It finally dawned on me. Why it looked familiar. No other hellish place on Spira emitted the same purple glow as this place did. I Shuddered as I remembered all of the harsh fiends I fought here last time with Yuna and the other guardians. If I had that much trouble fighting them when I was at full the strength then how the hell was I going to fight them now, and by the look of hunger on their faces they weren't going to wait much longer to attack.

Gippal was still unconscious and his shirt had a bright red stain that was steadily growing. Kneeling down next to him I switched on his communicator.

"Hello? Pops, Yunie, Paine, Brother, anyone?" I waited.

"Rikku? Rikku is that you?"

"Oh vydran, we need help, Gippal's seriously injured; he might die. Daddy please come help us."

"It's going to be okay nyria. We're on our way. We got Gippal's transmission. We'll be there soon. Are you okay?"

"Yes, but Vydran, Dravidian's dead."

He was silent.

"He was innocent though Vydran. None of this was his fault."

"Okay. We'll… we'll talk about it later. We're almost there. We're not even minutes away."

"Okay, please hurry, Gippal can't last much longer."

"We'll be there as soon as we can. I love you sweetie."

"I love you too vydran." I clicked off the communicator and everything went silent. The only noise that could be heard was the sound of the wind whistling throigh the caves from some far off opening.

I grabbed the gun Gippal dropped when he got shot in case any of the fiends tried to attack. I rested Gippal's head in my lap and tried my hardest to keep my composure. 'I'll be out of here soon, Gippal will be okay.' I chanted this over and over again in my head and I'm pretty sure it was the only thing keeping me sane.

I heard a low hiss behind me and frantically tried to turn my as best as I could towards the sound. It was a Ghoul poised and ready to attack.

I raised the gun, thankful for once of my thorough weapons training, and my time as a guardian. I really learned a lot that year. I knew almost all of the weaknesses of all the fiends in Spira. My aim was dead on as the Ghoul exploded into a bunch of pyreflies.

I sigh in relief, my shoulders sagging in exhaustion. I looked down at Gippal's unconscious form, Scared out of my mind. He looked so pale and had lost so much blood. I had no idea if he would make it and that scared me. I could not lose him; it would break me completely to lose him, to have to raise our child without him. To have to try and describe him to our child. No words can do justice to the type of person Gippal is.

I put my fingers just below his pulse point just below his ear. I sighed in relief when I felt a faint pulse.

I had my other hand lightly resting on my stomach, rubbing soothing circles, when I felt my child kick. "It's okay honey, daddy will be okay, I promise." This seemed to calm it down for a little while, and yet I couldn't tell if I was trying to convince myself or my baby."

The ceiling shook above us, as what I assumed to be my brother's airship approach the ruins.

I nearly sobbed in relief when I saw a light towards the front of the cave and saw the faint outlines of my friends and family.

"Rikku!"

"Vydran!" I shouted. "Down here." I was frantically waving my arms, though my arm was throbbing.

"Rikku! Watch out!" In the blink of an eye Paine had transformed into the gunner dress sphere and fired three rounds directly behind me; the air from the bullet ruffling my hair.

I thought maybe there was a fiend behind me, but when I turned around I saw the Inn keeper's body slouched over the ledge, bleeding form Paine's three gunshots.

Seconds later my friends and family were all around us, Yuna, Tidus, Paine, Baralai, Cid and Brother.

"Yunie, can you heal him?" I asked in a broken voice.

"I'll do what I can, but a wound of that magnitude will take a lot more healing then a strong curaga Rikku."

I could only nod.

"Rikku, you're hurt" Pain said softly kneeling next to me.

"I'm fine, Gippal needs the help. What if he dies Paine? I can't lose him. I don't know what to do." I was sobbing uncontrollably into Paine's shoulder, just letting everything out, everything I had been trying in vain to hold back, all of my fears and worries.

She wrapped her arms around my shoulders trying her best to comfort me. "It's okay Rikku, He's going be okay. We won't let him die."

"Yunie?" I asked I asked timidly.

"He's stable but we have to get him to a hospital soon."

I nodded and stepped away form Paine only to be enveloped in an almost bone crushing hug from my vydran and my brother, and bone crushing hug that happened to put pressure on my wound. I didn't complain though, I was just glad to be safe and sound in my loving family's arms.

"Oh nyria(honey), you're okay" Vydran breathed. "We were so worried."

I couldn't help but wince this time. The tighter he hugged me the more pressure he put in my arm and it was beginning to throb. "I'm fine vydran, I'm just sorry I couldn't save Dravidian. I couldn't save my brother.

I felt a curaga quietly wash over me and I glanced at Yunie, who had a sad sympathetic smile on her face.

"Shh. It's okay honey. You did what you could." I've never hear my fathers voice filled with such emotion. It made me start crying again.

"It doesn't matter, my best wasn't good enough, I should have been able to do more. I should know by now to never travel anywhere with out the proper supplies. If I had I might have been able to use a curaga or potion on him to at least slow or stop the bleeding. I was so stupid what was I thinking."

Don't, don't you dare take the blame for this. This isn't your fault. You were kidnapped from a hospital, even if you had brought anything with you, it wouldn't have been taken from you the moment you were checked into the hospital. This isn't in anyway your fault. If anything it's mine. I should have taken responsibility of Dravidian. He was my son; he should have known I was his father. I should have been more help to Layla with raising him."

"Look you can play the blame game all you want but it doesn't change the fact that Dravidian's dead, the bomber is dead and we really need to move if you don't want Gippal to join the list of casualties. The fiends won't hold out much longer; they'll go for him, if he doesn't die from his wounds first." Paine interjected

She was right of course. We all knew that, but it sounded so bad when she said it so bluntly.

I nodded, staying silent as everything else around me continued on. I watched, as if from a distance, as Tidus and Baralai carried Gippal back to the airship while vydran and Brother picked up Dravidian's lifeless body.

"He's alive!" Vydran shouted.

I couldn't breathe. He was alive? But how was that possible?"

"Yunie!" I shouted.

She turned back around looking confused as she ran back to us.

"Dravidian. He might be alive."

She looked doubtful but made her way over to where my father and brother were standing. Pressing her fingers to his pulse point she waited. 'Rikku I don't feel. . ." She paused, eyes widening in shock. "There's a pulse. It's very weak but it is there. I'll see what I can do."

She rested her hands above his body, her faced scrunched up in concentration as a faint bluish white light emanated from her hands and hovered over his body. The light wasn't very strong, Yuna was weakening from using her powers but it seemed to have had some effects when all of a sudden Dravidian took a deep shuddering breath, but still remained unconscious.

Yuna stood up looking worried. "He's alive but no where near stable; his wounds need more medical attention then just a white mage. If he's going to survive then we need to move fast. But first things first. We need to stop the bleeding. I know there's not much left but he can't afford to lose anymore blood than he already has."

Vydran did not hesitate, taking his shirt off and pressing it against Drvidian's wound as Brother and he quickly rushed him to the airship.

I looked at my cousin with weary eyes. "How do you do it Yunie? How do you stay so strong when everything else is falling apart?

"Faith." Yuna responded with sympathy written all over her face. She wrapped a comforting arm around my waist gently leading me towards the waiting airship and our friends.

"Faith in what Yuna? What is there left to believe in? Yevon was a lying bastard, the Fayth are no longer, what is there left to believe in?" I felt so broken, my chest hurt from the weight of it all, and if it wasn't for my baby I probably would have just collapsed and given up right there and then.

"Faith in the Universe, faith that everything will work out for the best. Everything happens for a reason Rikku, you'll see everything will be fine."

She stopped, silent for a moment. "Three years ago when Tidus disappeared I had no hope Rikku, I was so angry at everything, you saw how I was. I couldn't believe that after everything I had been through, after everything I had and was willing to sacrifice, the one thing I wanted the most they were going to take it all away from me.

"I stopped going to the temples. I stopped praying. My world, my beliefs, everything I had ever known was shattered. I was angry Rikku, oh so angry. I resented the faith, the Aeons, after all I did for them they couldn't let me have this one thing, wouldn't let me keep the man I loved. I knew Lulu and Wakka worried about me. I could see it in their eyes, afraid to say something that would have brought back unwanted memories, but I couldn't find it in myself to care anymore.

"That's when you showed up with that sphere, the one of Shuyin. I so desperately wanted it to be him that I didn't notice the very subtle differences between the two. But I didn't care. If there was any chance that it was him, any chance of finding him then I was going to take it."

We had reached the entrance and the ladder that would take us back to the airship, when Yunie turned to me.

"You saved me Rikku, whether you realized it or not. Traveling all around Spira made me realize what I had been missing and showed me what all of us accomplished. And even though I wasn't okay with it, if losing Tidus meant that Spira was safe again and the Al Bhed were no longer as hated as they were, then I could live with that. I started to regain my faith, but this time it was my faith in Spira and its people that helped me get out and live my life again. It all worked out in the end for me and you have to believe that it will for you also. I do."

Yunie hugged me once before climbing up the ladder and into the airship.

I started after her and with the full force of the sun shining on me I whispered to myself, "Me too Yunie, me too."


End file.
